The Blank Vote Blues

A friend sent me a short message a few days after the Primary election asking, “Where do we go from here?” My initial response was simply, “Forward.”

But then later I added, “We rest a bit, then we go back at it. We help our friends in the general election on November 3, at the same time we regroup and start on 2022. Along the way we fight for the good stuff, and against the bad stuff.

In addition to writing this weekly column “Policy and Politics,” my day-to-day life revolves around (my wife would say consumed by) issues and elections. My thought is while we here in the middle of the Pacific might have zero to minimal impact on national elections, here in Hawaii we can actually make change happen at the local level.

I believe that if we identify and elect good leaders at the State and County level, Hawaii can model how a democracy is supposed to work. I believe that with a strong democracy and an engaged community, we can protect our natural environment, and ensure that our residents earn a living wage, have access to quality health care, and have an affordable safe place to live. I do not believe that achieving these goals and creating a strong and diverse economy are mutually exclusive.

While across the state, many new candidates who share these values have been running for public office and getting elected, we need to do much more.

Because Hawaii is, for all intents and purposes, a single party state, the Primary Election is everything.

While there are obviously some important races that will be decided in the General Election on November 3, the vast majority of state legislative races were essentially decided in the Primary.

All 4 of Kauai’s incumbent state legislators ran unopposed in the Primary. Our one State Senator, Senate President Ronald Kouchi ran unopposed in the Primary and has no opponent in the General Election either. Our three State Representatives; Rep’s Nakamura, Tokioka, and Morikawa each face Republican challengers in the General Election, each of whom failed to even win their “blank vote” competition.

Yes, the three Republican challengers seeking to unseat the Democratic incumbents in HD14 (Northshore, Kapaa), HD15 (Wailua Homesteads, Lihue, Puhi), and HD16 (Koloa to Kekaha) – failed to secure more votes than those left “blank.”

“Blank” votes are not uncommon and virtually every single race will include some. The reason a voter chooses not to cast a vote in a particular race would seem to be that they do not support the choice or choices offered. In other words, they don’t like any of the candidates on the list.

But when there is only a single candidate on the list, and yet the voter still chooses not to vote for that person – it makes one wonder as to the strength or at the minimum, the popularity of that candidate.

For those who like to see numbers, the below is for you. Remember, all of the below candidates RAN UNOPPOSED in the Primary. These blank votes represent the number and percentage of voters who left their votes blank, rather than vote for the only person on the ballot for that race.

Blank votes for Democratic Party Kauai incumbents for August 8, 2020 Primary

State Senator, Dist 8 – (D) KOUCHI 4,414 Blank Votes or 25.5%

State Representative, Dist 14 – (D) NAKAMURA 1,477 Blank Votes or 27.1%

State Representative, Dist 15 – (D) TOKIOKA 1,660 Blank Votes or 27.2%

State Representative, Dist 16 – (D) MORIKAWA 1,609 Blank Votes or 28.0%

Blank votes for Republican Party Kauai challengers for August 8, 2020 Primary

State Representative, Dist 14 – (R) MONAS 814 Blank Votes or 63.7%

State Representative, Dist 15 – (R) YODER 682 Blank Votes or 52.5%

State Representative, Dist 16 – (R) DES 871 Blank Votes or 70.1%

Again, each and every candidate listed above ran unopposed in the Primary.

Wow. Head-scratching. Go figure.

Kauai has 45,135 registered voters. 22,407 (less than half) show up to vote, and approximately 30% or 7,000 of those voters choose to vote “blank” rather than for the candidate choice presented.

The message that I believe is being sent here is that candidates, both incumbent and challenger alike, are woefully out of touch with the voter. Some of the incumbents no doubt are taking their jobs for granted. And the challengers, for the most part are simply dreaming, and have not mounted anything even closely resembling a real campaign.

In any case, for 2022, the planning begins now. In 2022 every single seat in the Hawaii State House and Senate will be up for election and all 7 Council seats will again be up. In addition, there will be a governors race and a Kauai mayors race.

Potential candidates (both incumbent and newcomers) need to start laying the groundwork for their campaigns now.

Yes, there’s still a General Election on November 3rd which we need to pay attention to. The main responsibility for that day will be selecting our new County Council. As you can see from the above blank vote analysis, there is not likely to be any changes at the state legislative level. And, if the Republican Party performs in the Hawaii General Election as it did in the Hawaii Primary, you can rest assured that Kauai and all Hawaii will be voting overwhelmingly for Joe Biden to be the next President of the United States.

I can only hope the rest of the nation shows up to do the same.

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Gary Hooser formerly served in the state Senate, where he was majority leader. He also served for eight years on the Kaua‘i County Council, and was the former director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control. He serves presently in a volunteer capacity as board president of the Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action and is executive director of the Pono Hawai‘i Initiative.