STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3275

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2251

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2251 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote voter participation in elections by requiring the county clerk of a county with a population of less than one hundred thousand to mail an absentee ballot to all registered voters on any island of the county that is not the county seat of government.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of Elections; Office of the County Clerk, County of Kauai; and the Office of the County Clerk, County of Maui.

 

     Your Committee finds that there are significant logistical and administrative challenges associated with establishing an election polling place in certain areas of the State with small communities and limited resources.  This measure ensures that voters in these communities are offered the convenience of absentee ballots to address these challenges.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Increasing the population threshold for counties that would be subject to this measure, from populations of less than one hundred thousand to populations of less than one hundred sixty thousand; and

 

     (2)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2251, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2251, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair