LIHU‘E — The General Election is one month away, but if you haven’t registered to vote yet, you have until Monday at 4:30 p.m., which is the deadline to register at the Historic Annex Building in Lihu‘e. “All persons must
LIHU‘E — The General Election is one month away, but if you haven’t registered to vote yet, you have until Monday at 4:30 p.m., which is the deadline to register at the Historic Annex Building in Lihu‘e.
“All persons must be a U.S. citizen, a resident of Hawai‘i and at least 18 years old to vote,” states the Office of the County Clerk, Elections Division, in a press release this week. “Currently registered voters that have changed their name or moved since the last election should re-register before the voter registration deadline.”
Those who choose to mail a voter registration form will have to do it Saturday, as the Post Offices will be closed on Monday due to the federal holiday Discoverer’s Day, according to the Elections Division.
If you think your vote doesn’t count, think again, as you may be wrong. While seeking reelection in 2006, the late Mayor Bryan Baptiste avoided a runoff by two votes in the primaries.
In the Aug. 11 primaries this year, a few votes separated the bottom two Kaua‘i County Council candidates from the first seven, who will be making county laws for the next two years.
Additionally, the race for the next county prosecutor is anyone’s guess. Deputy County Attorney Justin Kollar topped incumbent Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho in the primaries by 49 votes.
Kollar received 7,018 votes, while Iseri-Carvalho had 6,969 votes. With 1,549 blank votes and many more from those who missed the primaries, the county prosecutor race is wide open.
Kaua‘i voters will also choose a state Senator, a U.S. Senator, a state Representatives, a U.S. Representative, an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee and the next U.S. President.
Kaua‘i has three state Representatives, serving District 14, 15 and 16. State Rep. Dee Morikawa, D-16th District, is the only one who has a challenger, Republican Troy Trujillo; and will have a run off in November. Reps. Derek Kawakami, D-14th District, and Jimmy Tokioka, D-15th District, were elected at the primaries due to not having an opponent.
In addition to choosing candidates for office, Kaua‘i voters will check “yes” or “no” to eight proposals to amend the Kaua‘i County Charter, and on two proposed amendments to Hawai‘i Constitution.
Wikiwiki voter registration forms are available at any U.S. Post Office, public libraries, Yellow Pages, at the county and state official websites and at most state agencies.
On Oct. 23, the early voting period starts at the Annex Building, next to the Historic County Building in the Lihu‘e Historic District. On Oct. 30 is the last day to request absentee mail ballots, and on Nov. 6 is election day.
Visit www.kauai.gov/elections or www.hawaii.gov/elections for more information.
OHA
Eleven candidates are running to become Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ trustee for the island of Kaua‘i.
OHA is an independent state agency established through the state Constitution and statutes to advocate for the betterment of conditions of Native Hawaiians, with a elected Board of Trustees.
OHA has recently launched a campaign aimed at increasing voter turnout among Native Hawaiians across the state, according to an OHA press release earlier this week.
OHA’s “Hawaiian Voice, Hawaiian Vote” campaign includes extensive advertising and more than 20 registration drives on college campuses and community events.
“We are attempting to empower young Hawaiians to become allies for the changes they want to see in their community,” OHA CEO Kamana‘o Crabbe said in the release. “For that reason, we are putting a lot of effort into defining for Hawaiians their stake in voting. There’s mana (power) in our voices, and if we all channel our mana, we can be a force.”
OHA is guided by a vision and mission to ensure the perpetuation of the culture, to protect the entitlements of Native Hawaiians and to build a strong and healthy Hawaiian people and nation.
Who is your president?
Hawai‘i voters will also cast their votes for the countries next president. In the last presidential election, President Barack Obama topped Republican John McCain to become the nation’s first African-American president.
This year, Obama’s main opponent is Republican Mitt Romney, a Mormon born in Michigan and whose main political experience is as the governor of Massachusetts from 2002 to 2006.
Romney’s professional resume includes founder and CEO of Bain Capital, “one of the world’s leading private, alternative asset management firms, with approximately $66 billion in assets under management,” according to the company’s website.
Romney was also the president and CEO of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, from 1999 to 2002, according to Vote Smart, a nonprofit organization that provides access to information on political candidates.
Prior to being elected president in 2008, Hawai‘i-born Obama serve as Illinois state Senator from 1996 to 2004, and as a U.S. Senator from 2005 to 2008.
Obama’s professional experience includes work as an attorney, as a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago, Ill., and as an author of three books, according to Vote Smart.
Besides Obama and Romney, there are four other candidates running for president. Rocky Anderson is running as an Independent, Virgil Goode is running for the American Constitution Party, Gary Johnson is running as a Libertarian and Jill Stein is running for the Green Party. Anderson and Goode, however, are not on the ballot in Hawai‘i.
By visiting votesmart.org/voteeasy and answering a 13-point questionnaire, voters can compare their answers with the views of all six presidential candidates and be able to make an educated decision on who to vote for.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
