REPORT TITLE:
Election Recount Qualifications


DESCRIPTION:
Allows a complaint to be filed in a circuit court for a recount
when the difference in the votes cast for winning and losing
candidates for an office meets specified trigger results.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           1264
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO ELECTION RECOUNTS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Chapter 11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 2 by adding a new section to part XI to be appropriately designated
 
 3 and to read as follows:
 
 4      "�11-    Contests for small vote differences.  (a)  In a
 
 5 general or special election, an election contest for cause may be
 
 6 filed as set forth in section 11-172, if the difference in the
 
 7 votes cast for the winning and losing candidates for an office
 
 8 eligible to be voted on by one-third of the voters of the entire
 
 9 State is one-eighth of one per cent or less of the total ballots
 
10 cast for the office, or in the case of votes cast for the
 
11 candidates for any other state or county office, the difference
 
12 in the votes cast for the winning and losing candidates is one-
 
13 fourth of one per cent or less of the total ballots cast for any
 
14 other state and county office, then the circuit court, upon
 
15 filing of a complaint, may order a recount of a part of the
 
16 ballots cast as agreed upon by the candidates involved or upon
 
17 the absence of an agreement, then all of the ballots cast for the
 
18 office where the contest exists.
 
19      (b)  In cases where several candidates are to be elected to
 

 
Page 2                                                     
                                     S.B. NO.           1264
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 an office with more than one seat, and the percentage
 
 2 differential contained in subsection (a) appears between the
 
 3 votes received by the lowest among the winning candidates and
 
 4 those received by the highest among the losing candidates, the
 
 5 circuit court may order a recount of the questioned ballots.  The
 
 6 lowest and highest among the winning and losing candidates may
 
 7 include more than one candidate; provided that they are within
 
 8 the difference mentioned in subsection (a)."
 
 9      SECTION 2.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
10      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
11 
 
12                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________