STAND. COM. REP. NO. 156

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 729

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 729 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the display of candidates for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, on the ballot by residency and non-residency requirements and to randomize the order of candidate names within those groupings and among precincts.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Pono Leadership Now, eight individuals, and a petition signed by twenty individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Elections.

 

     Your Committee finds that ballot order has been shown to affect election outcomes and the first name on the ballot generally has an advantage over names listed further down the ballot.  Your Committee finds that under existing law, candidate names are placed on the ballot in alphabetical order, which results in candidates' ballot positions remaining relatively unchanged from election to election.  Randomizing the names of candidates for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, so that the order of names changes each election and, furthermore, so that in each election the order of names varies in each precinct, will distribute more randomly any advantage that may arise from the order of candidates' names on the ballot.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 729 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

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MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair