It was indeed reassuring, as one election observer remarked, that the computerized counting system in Hilo rejected 11 ballots that had the same bar code. That raised the possibility of voter fraud, since each legit ballot has its own unique code for scanning. The case has been forwarded to the state Attorney General’s Office for further investigation.

Voters deserve to know how those duplicate ballots made it into the Hilo counting center. There are so many unfounded claims nationwide over voter fraud, but when actual ballot tampering does occur, it must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.