STAND. COM. REP. NO.193

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1147

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1147 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require vote recounts if the total vote differential is one-eighth of one percent or less in statewide elections, and one-fourth of one percent or less in state or county office elections. The measure also moves the date of the primary election to the second Saturday in August.

Your Committee received testimony supporting this measure from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii and the ACLU. The Chief Election Officer, Officer of Elections provided comments.

Your Committee finds that the validation and confirmation of election results are a total process starting from voter registration and ending with certification of election results. Hawaii demands accuracy, transparency, security, accountability, and replicability from its election system, and enforces compliance with independent audits and tests. Vendors providing services to Hawaii have characterized the State's election administrative requirements as "security overkill."

Your Committee further finds that election results are released only after election day audits and post-election day audits have been conducted. Audits include:

(1) Pre-election tests of all vote-counting machines that are used in the elections to ensure that the vote counting hardware and software are operating correctly;

(2) Election night poll book audits of all precincts and districts statewide by a semi-autonomous team of election officials;

(3) Manual audits of selected contests and precincts by a semi-autonomous team of election officials;

(4) Office of Elections and/or official observer initiated machine audits of ballots to verify and substantiate results provided by the precinct counters; and

(5) Official observer initiated tests of the vote accumulation program, that can occur at any time during the election day, to verify that tabulation is accurate and correct.

Your Committee notes that all election day operations are scrutinized by official observers. These official observers are representatives of the various political parties, interest groups, and interested individuals from within the community.

Your Committee further finds that notwithstanding the Office of Elections' security procedures, close race recounts ensures fair elections and fosters public confidence. The Elections Task Force convened by the 2001 legislature recommended the recount threshold which balances public confidence in elections against the expense and delay incurred. Your Committee further finds that in order to accommodate the time required to conduct a recount, the date of the primary election is moved to the second Saturday in August from the last Saturday in September. This earlier primary election date does not affect the filing deadline for candidate's nomination papers which remains at sixty days prior to the primary election.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1147 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair