The Hawai’i residents designated by their respective political parties as Electoral College voters have it a lot easier right now than their confused brethren in Florida. On Election Day Nov. 7, Hawaii’s voters put the state overwhelmingly in the Democrats’
The Hawai’i residents designated by their respective political parties as
Electoral College voters have it a lot easier right now than their confused
brethren in Florida.
On Election Day Nov. 7, Hawaii’s voters put the state
overwhelmingly in the Democrats’ column (205,253 votes for Vice President Al
Gore to Republican George W. Bush’s 137,811), so the four worthies nominated by
Hawai`i’s Republican Party don’t have to do anything.
Barbara Morumoto,
Rick Clifton, Peter Finnegan and Mimi Baker may all go home and wait for the
2004 presidential elections, although it’s likely their party will choose four
new representatives four years from now.
The four Democratic electoral
voters, none of whom are from Kaua`i, will meet at the state capitol on Dec. 18
to cast their official electoral ballots.
They are:
* Mike Amlt,
employed in the state Department of Parks and Recreation.
* Pedro Rocelis
Jr., a retired former Air Force colonel.
* Marsha Joyner, a small-business
owner.
* And Joy Kobashi Lewis, employed by the University of
Hawai`i.
“They are all chosen by their political parties,” which
traditionally pick “party loyalists to be sure of the votes because there is no
law that requires the electoral voter to cast his ballot for his party’s
candidate,” said Rex Quidilla, spokesman for the state elections
department.
Although electoral voters have crossed their parties once or
twice on the mainland, it has never happened here in Hawai`i’s 41 years as a
state, according to Quidilla.
“Plurality is the law for every other
election” held in Hawai`i. “Only the presidential election” is different with
the electoral system, Quidilla said.
In the presidential race every four
years, the candidate who wins a state also wins that state’s electoral votes.
At least 270 such votes are needed to be elected president. The electoral votes
in Florida, in dispute while recounts there continue, apparently will decide
the winner this year.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at
245-3681 (ext. 252) and [
HREF=”mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net”>dwilken@pulitzer.net]
