An intensive two-month drive to register 100,000 more voters throughout the State will open May 2.

Sanford Weintraub, chairman of the non-partisan Citizens Action Committee for Voter Registration, said barely 60 per cent of Hawaii’s eligible voters are registered.

This puts Hawaii far down the list of states, Weintraub said. It ranks with those states which are notorious for their poor voting record.

The record is by far the worst on Oahu, Weintraub said. On the Neighbor Islands, the number of persons registered ranges from 84.6 per cent to 98.9 per cent of those eligible.

But on Oahu, only 53.9 per cent of those eligible to vote are registered. This makes the statewide total only 60.7 per cent.

The registration drive will seek to reach all citizens who have lived in Hawaii a year or more, who speak, read and write English or Hawaiian, who are 20 or older, and who did not vote in the last general election.

By law, any voter who did not cast a ballot in the general election last November automatically was dropped from the registration list. He cannot vote again until he reregisters.

The registration drive will concentrate on Oahu, because of the low number of registered voters.

“Beginning May 2 we will have a small army of more than 200 volunteers who have been deputized as special voter registrars by the City Clerk’s office,” Weintraub said. …

Twenty-six Oahu fire stations have been designated as registration centers and about 70 firemen are being trained as deputy registrars.

Eight shopping centers on Oahu will have special registration booths.

The business section of the Citizens Action Committee, headed by builder E.E. Black, has begun a campaign to have Oahu businesses appoint employees to become deputy registrars. The business section also will work to get all employees registered.

The labor section, headed by Jack W. Hall, ILWU regional director, is working in a similar program so union members can be registered. …

City Clerk Eileen Lota said deputy registrars will be members of the Republican and Democratic Parties, University of Hawaii students and members of community groups and organizations.