Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Sunday that the state should review oversight of elections after irregularities on Hawaii island during the primary.
A delay in opening an undetermined number of Hawaii County precincts Saturday morning prompted the governor to extend voting by 90 minutes there. The extension — to 7:30 p.m. — held up release of election results statewide until shortly after 8 p.m.
The state Office of Elections, which administers elections under state law, is supervised by an appointed Elections Commission. But county clerks, who answer to County Councils, have been delegated local jurisdiction over voting.
"The whole question is, How do we make it convenient for people to vote? That’s my issue," Abercrombie said, adding that he favors the move toward mail and perhaps even online voting if security concerns can be satisfied. "As to whether or not people want to continue to allow the Office of Elections to run as some kind of semi-independent agency, that will have to be settled legislatively."
Abercrombie said he would look at whether to ask the state Legislature to transfer elections to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, which had oversight responsibility before lawmakers shifted the power to a chief election officer in 1995.
Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz also said there should be a policy discussion next session about administration of elections.
"In the short run, we have 90 days to make sure that what happened in Hawaii County doesn’t happen again in the general election," he said.
Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi was criticized before the primary for a lack of communication with state election officials and the public about the county’s preparations. She also made late changes in election staff and appeared distracted by a recent internal audit that found relatively isolated voter problems in 2010.
Kawauchi could not be reached for comment.
Scott Nago, the state’s chief election officer, said Sunday afternoon that he could not provide a definitive account of what happened on Hawaii island because he had not heard from Kawauchi. At least three precincts in West Hawaii — and perhaps several more of the county’s 40 precincts — did not open as scheduled at 7 a.m. Saturday. One precinct did not open until about 8:30 a.m., 90 minutes late. "We’ll be in contact with her later this week," Nago said.
County Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who supervises Kawauchi, said Sunday afternoon that he, too, had not been briefed by Kawauchi.
"Obviously, we want to make sure we not only learn from what took place, but it’s imperative that we don’t have some of the major inconvenience that was caused," said Yagong, who lost his bid for mayor. "Obviously it’s something we do not want to repeat."
William Marston, chairman of the Elections Commission, described the initial reports from Hawaii County as "very disturbing."
Other than the irregularities there, the primary appeared to be conducted smoothly.
Voter turnout was 42.3 percent, just under the 42.8 percent who voted in the 2010 primary but an increase from the 37 percent who participated in the 2008 primary.
Nearly half of voters — 49 percent — cast ballots absentee through the mail or at early walk-in locations.
In a campaign that had been too close to call late Saturday, state Sen. Malama Solomon, who was appointed by Abercrombie to fill a vacancy in 2010, held off Lorraine Inouye, a former state senator and Hawaii County mayor, by just 69 votes for a Senate seat.
But Inouye, citing concerns about how the election was conducted, has not given up.
"I’m not conceding," she said.
