There really is no excuse for primary election turnout numbers as low as those Hawaii posted on Saturday, leaving the islands — still — in the basement of voter statistics nationwide.
People will trot out any number of familiar ones, though. Too lazy. Too many other things to do that day. Too much toxic rhetoric in the political world these days. Too little choice among candidates. Too much power in the hands of incumbents.
Frankly, only that first excuse has the benefit of being at least an honest admission.
Appreciating the importance of this civic duty is not easily engendered in someone who does not have a lifelong history of voting. So the Legislature has done a great deal to remove the barriers to voting, in the hopes of encouraging it.
Clearly, the work isn’t done yet, but if Hawaii is ever going to turn around its miserable voter-engagement record, that work rests with the voters themselves.
Voter-registration campaigns and same-day registration, the latter which was rolled out for the first time here in Saturday’s primary election, contributed to an impressive boost in registered voters. It was 741,007 — even higher than the 726,940 of the 2016 presidential election year, which usually drives greater voter interest. And in the last off-year election, in 2014, registration stood at 697,033.
This year’s total primary turnout was 38.6 percent, 286,041 ballots cast — 3.8 percent higher than the abysmal 2016 primary turnout, but still below 2014.
So why do so few of those registered voters bother to show up? There is now an easily accessible vote-by-mail option. Too much nastiness in government? Why not use the power of the polls to knock the guilty down a peg?
As for the “too little choice” argument: There is no disputing that the dominance of the Democratic Party has pushed its competitors to a marginal status. The Republican Party of Hawaii has been shrinking for years, and the current election cycle has only continued the downward trend lines.
But writing off the primary as pointless is counterintuitive: This is when big decisions are made. Gov. David Ige bested U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the marquee event. Congressional and lieutenant governor races brought out a procession of hopefuls.
Admittedly, as usual, there were too many incumbents re-elected, unchallenged. But in many cases, due to the number of incumbents who left their seats in pursuit of higher office, voters had the chance to select several fresh faces for public office.
Some have emerged in this cycle, despite the headwinds newcomers face. In the state Senate’s 12th District, community activist Sharon Moriwaki toppled veteran incumbent Brickwood Galuteria. The open House 48th District seat also went to an electoral first-timer, Lisa Kitagawa, who won in a field including two former lawmakers. In several districts, the challenger came very close to winning.
The takeaway lesson there? That individual vote does count.
It’s unclear what further steps legislators can take to jump-start the voter turnout. Oregon, where vote-by-mail has been the standard mechanism for 20 years, in 2016 instituted an automatic voter registration (AVR). Voters there can opt out but otherwise are registered when they obtain or renew a driver’s license or ID. That has improved overall turnout.
Could that work in Hawaii? Perhaps — although it seems the problem here is not the registration part. And if Hawaii goes to all-mail voting, there are issues, such as the security of mass-mailed ballots, that will require discussion.
The real imperative is to reach out to the voters themselves, especially the newly initiated. Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of statehood, when turnout even at primaries hit 84 percent. Hawaii once had a proud history of voter engagement; it’s time to reclaim it.
