Hawaii

Hawaii Election Challenged with Fifteen Amendment Claims

Election Law Society · March 18, 2016 ·

By: Andrew Lowy

A Hawaii election has put the Fifteenth Amendment in an interesting spotlight. Hawaii’s Act 195, passed in 2011, authorized the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission to compile a list of Native Hawaiians who would later be able to organize themselves as a new nation of Native Hawaiians. This new Hawaiian nation would be similar to already existing Native American nations. Now, Justice Kennedy has issued an order temporarily blocking the counting of ballots in an election proposing to start the process of creating the Native Hawaiian nation.

Native-Hawaiian Self Determination Election Survives Equal Protection Challenge

Election Law Society · January 22, 2016 ·

By: Mollie Topic

In October 2015, a U.S. district judge sitting in Honolulu denied a motion for preliminary injunction to halt an election that is open only to Native Hawaiians. The litigation in Akina v. Hawaii arises out of the Nai Aupuni election, an election process that is ultimately designed to help Native Hawaiians achieve self-determination.

HI: Pay-to-Play Law is A-OK in the Aloha State

Election Law Society · October 21, 2015 ·

By: Mary C. Topic

Pay-to-play laws have risen in prominence in recent years, particularly after Citizens United came down. Pay-to-play laws regulate campaign contributions from government contractors, frequently by taking the form of prohibitions on the award of contracts to those who have made campaign contributions. In enacting such statutes, legislatures seek to combat both actual incidences of corruption, as well as the appearance of corruption.

A series of tubes: Transmitting ballots via the Internet

Election Law Society · April 9, 2012 ·

by Anthony Balady

The Internet is a strange and unpredictable place, filled with cats playing keyboard and Rick Astley videos. It’s the kind of place you wouldn’t want your ballot floating around without protection. So, ever since the widespread adoption of electronic voting machines, voters and election administrators alike have feared for the safety of votes traveling through the Internet tubes.

Five voters in Hawaii, concerned about the accuracy and safety of electronically transmitted ballots, filed suit against Chief Election Officer Kevin Cronin to prevent the use of electronic voting machines in the 2010 elections. The suit, Babson v. Cronin, resulted from the Hawaii Office of Election’s decision to use Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines in the 2010 elections. DRE voting machines eliminate the need for paper ballots by storing the vote electronically. In some DRE machines, the vote is stored on a physical device, like a flash drive, and then physically taken to a central vote tabulation machine. In other DRE machines, like those used in Hawaii, the vote is transmitted electronically through an Internet style network. [Read more…] about A series of tubes: Transmitting ballots via the Internet

HI (ballot access): Gotta be in it to win it: Ralph Nader loses Hawaiian ballot access challenge

Election Law Society · November 2, 2011 ·

by Anthony Balady

Ralph Nader may be accustomed to losing elections, but it takes a special kind of talent to lose before the first ballot has been cast. But that is just what happened back in 2004, when Hawaiian election officials kept independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader off the state ballot for failing to meet that state’s ballot access requirements.

Ballot access is a catch-all term for the requirements a candidate must meet before their name can appear on the ballot. Generally, a candidate is required to demonstrate a minimum level of support before the state will start printing ballots with their name on it. Ballot access laws vary significantly from state to state, but one thing is almost universally true: candidates from major parties, Republicans and Democrats, have a much easier time getting on the ballot than independents and third-party candidates. [Read more…] about HI (ballot access): Gotta be in it to win it: Ralph Nader loses Hawaiian ballot access challenge