The recent settlement of the legal mess in the Office of Elections should be greeted with a huge sigh of relief by voters, because that particular state agency doesn’t need any more complications in what will be an enormously challenging election season.
The state is seeking $1.2 million to settle that issue, a major contract dispute, but there is more upheaval ahead. Reappor- tionment, which happens every 10 years, means that every single seat in the state Legislature will be up this year because all the boundaries have been redrawn. There will be high-stakes contests for the U.S. Senate and House, too, and for a Honolulu mayor to serve a full, four-year term.
Whether there will be further challenges to the redistricting plan won’t be known until the deadline passes April 22. After the lawsuit that sent the original plan back to the state Reapportionment Commission once already, any critics should have to make a compelling case that any further delay is warranted.
Meanwhile, the state Office of Elections has made the rational decision to press ahead with the district maps as they’re currently drawn. There are many tasks to be done if the coming elections are to go off smoothly, not the least of which is an adequate outreach program to educate voters on what changes to expect on Election Day.
Many people are going to find themselves voting at different precincts, and the agency is working to update the online database to enable voters to find their new polling places.
The office is going to need all the time it has left between now and the Aug. 11 primary to manage everything, and the next few months will be critical. That’s because candidates need to figure out the boundaries of their home districts to garner the required signatures of qualified voters, and the deadline to file is June 5.
As for the contract dispute, it was only one of several missteps by Kevin Cronin, who had been the state’s chief elections officer before he abruptly resigned at the end of 2009. The trouble stemmed from a decision Cronin made shortly after taking the job to award a multiyear contract for electronic voting machines to Hart InterCivic. ES&S, which had submitted a competing bid, protested the award.
A hearings officer found Cronin’s handling of the matter faulty, but the state’s appeal of the case hung up the matter until the settlement was reached last month. The pact gave $1.05 million to ES&S and $150,000 to Hart InterCivic, which successfully bid for the current contract.
Rex Quidilla, a spokesman for the elections office, said its staffing and procurement protocols are now in place to ensure that such a mistake doesn’t happen again.
The electoral train seems to be back on track, and not a moment too soon. This is a critical election, both nationally and locally.
Now there needs to be public education — through all channels of communication, print, broadcast, direct mail and online — to make sure Hawaii voters are well prepared for it.
