Report Title:

Elections; Special Elections; Campaigns; Ballot Recount

Description:

Requires special elections to be conducted by mail; requires ballot recounts in close contests; requires separate ballots for each party; clarifies time of conviction for disqualification of elected officials.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1448

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to elections.

 

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§11- Special elections; special election polling place. (a) Except for special elections that are held in conjunction with a primary or general election, and except for the polling places established in subsection (b), all special elections shall be conducted solely by mail.

(b) Special election polling places shall be established at the office of the clerk of each county conducting the special election and may be established at such other sites as may be designated by the clerk, under the provisions prescribed in the rules adopted by the chief election officer. To the extent practicable, rules adopted by the chief election officer for absentee polling places pursuant to section 15-7(a) shall apply to special election polling places, until such time as the chief election officer adopts rules for special election polling places. Section 11-21 relating to changes of name and transfers of registration shall apply to the special election polling place as though it were the precinct at which a person's name properly appears on the list of registered voters.

(c) The special election polling places shall be open no later than ten working days before the day of the special election, and all Saturdays falling within that time period, or as soon thereafter as ballots are available; provided that all special election polling places shall be open on the same date statewide, as determined by the chief election officer."

SECTION 2. Chapter 11, part X, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§11-    Automatic recount for small vote differences. (a) If the difference in the votes cast for the winning and losing candidates for:

(1) An office eligible to be voted on by the voters of the entire State appears to be one-eighth of one per cent or less of the total ballots cast for the office; or

(2) Any other state or county office appears to be one-fourth of one per cent or less of the total ballots cast for that office;

then the chief election officer or county clerk in the case of a county election shall order a recount of all the ballots cast for the office where the small vote difference exist.

(b) In the case where several candidates are to be elected to an office with more than one seat, and the percentage difference contained in subsection (a) appears between the votes received by the lowest among the winning candidates and those received by the highest among the losing candidates, the chief election officer or county clerk in the case of a county election shall order a recount of the questioned ballots for that contest.

(c) The ballots shall be recounted by a machine count no later than seven days after the election. This section shall not preclude a contest for cause."

SECTION 3. Section 11-173.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§11-173.5 Contests for cause in primary[,] and special primary elections[,and]; county elections held concurrently with a regularly scheduled primary or special primary election[.]; runoffs; and automatic recounts. (a) In primary and special primary election contests, [and] contests of county [election contests] elections held concurrently with a regularly scheduled primary or special primary election, runoff elections, and contests of elections involving automatic recounts for small vote differences, the complaint shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the supreme court not later than 4:30 p.m. on the sixth day after a primary or special primary election, [or] county [election contests] election held concurrently with a regularly scheduled primary or special primary election, a runoff election, or the automatic recount for small vote differences, and shall be accompanied by a deposit for costs of court as established by rules of the supreme court. The clerk shall issue to the defendants named in the complaint a summons to appear before the supreme court not later than 4:30 p.m. on the fifth day after service thereof.

(b) In primary and special primary election contests, [and] contests of county [election contests] elections held concurrently with a regularly scheduled primary or special primary election, runoff elections, or contests of an election involving an automatic recount for small vote differences, the court shall hear the contest in a summary manner and at the hearing the court shall cause the evidence to be reduced to writing and shall not later than 4:30 p.m. on the fourth day after the return give judgment fully stating all findings of fact and of law. The judgment shall decide what candidate was nominated or elected, as the case may be, in the manner presented by the petition, and a certified copy of the judgment shall forthwith be served on the chief election officer or the county clerk, as the case may be, who shall place the name of the candidate declared to be nominated on the ballot for the forthcoming general, special general, or runoff election. The judgment shall be conclusive of the right of the candidate so declared to be nominated; provided that this subsection shall not operate to amend or repeal section 12-41."

SECTION 4. Section 11-174.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) In general, special general, special, or runoff elections, or in an election involving an automatic recount for small vote differences, the complaint shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the supreme court not later than 4:30 p.m. on the twentieth day following the general, special general, special, or runoff election, or automatic recount for small vote differences and shall be accompanied by a deposit for costs of court as established by rules of the supreme court. The clerk shall issue to the defendants named in the complaint a summons to appear before the supreme court not later than 4:30 p.m. on the tenth day after service thereof."

SECTION 5. Section 12-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§12-21 Official party ballots. The primary or special primary ballot shall be clearly designated as such. The names of the candidates of each party qualifying under section 11-61 or 11-62 and of nonpartisan candidates [may] shall be printed on separate ballots[, or on a single ballot]. The name of each party and the nonpartisan designation shall be distinctly printed and sufficiently separate from each other. The names of all candidates shall be printed on the ballot as provided in section 11-115. When the names of all candidates of the same party for the same office exceed the maximum number of voting positions on a single side of a ballot card, the excess names may be arranged and listed on both sides of the ballot card and additional ballot cards if necessary. [When separate ballots for each party are not used, the order in which parties appear on the ballot, including nonpartisan, shall be determined by lot.]

The chief election officer or the county clerk, in the case of county elections, shall approve printed samples or proofs of the respective party ballots as to uniformity of size, weight, shape, and thickness prior to final printing of the official ballots."

SECTION 6. Section 19-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§19-4 Penalties; disqualification for, removal from office; reports of convictions to chief election officer. Every person found guilty of an election fraud shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $1,000[,] or imprisoned at hard labor not more than two years, or both. Besides the punishment, the person shall be disqualified from voting and from being elected to, holding or occupying any office, elective or appointive. If the person so convicted holds any office, either elective or appointive, at the time of the conviction, the office shall at once and without mention in the sentence or other proceeding be vacated by the conviction. The judge before whom the conviction is had shall immediately transmit to the chief election officer and to the respective county clerks the name of the person, the offense of which the person has been convicted, and the sentence of the court.

For purposes of this section, "time of conviction" means the day upon which the person was found guilty of the charges by the trier of fact or determined to be guilty by the court."

SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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