Ballots have arrived in the mail. It’s game on. The Primary Election concludes on Aug. 10. If you have not received your ballot by now you should check with the office of elections to make sure you are registered at https://elections.hawaii.gov.
There are two sides to the ballot.
One side states clearly: “Start Voting Here” and “You must select one political preference below” and then lists all available choices of preference (Democrat, Republican, Green, nonpartisan, etc). You must select one and only one of these preferences, and you must vote only within that single preference block of candidates and only for those candidates within that preference.
My preference is the Democratic Party block of candidates. Consequently all of my votes cast on this side of the ballot must remain within the Democratic preference block or my vote will not be counted.
I’ve made a decision to not vote for candidates running unopposed. Unless I’m absolutely thrilled with their performance, I will leave the box blank.
On the opposite side of the ballot are“nonpartisan” races, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) and Kaua‘i County Council.
For those new Kaua‘i voters, I am compelled to explain the importance of block voting, plunking, and in general resisting the urge to go “eeny, meeny, miney, mo”when voting for council-members.
The system on Kaua‘i is different from every other County. On Kaua‘i, every council candidate runs “at large.” There are no separate council districts.
There are seven council seats, 17 candidates competing for them, and it will be the top seven “vote-getters” who ultimately win election.
The ballot will say “Vote for not more than seven.
Most voters have one, two or perhaps three candidates they really and truly like, and the rest are perhaps just OK, or absolutely not OK.
Experienced Kaua‘i voters will cast their council votes sparingly, selecting only those candidates whom they really, truly and positively, want to get elected. These voters might cast one vote or perhaps up to three or four votes but rarely more.
Bottom line: Using all seven votes can work to the detriment of the candidate or candidates you are most interested in getting elected.
For example: Imagine the moment when a council candidate‘s mother goes to vote.
She votes for her child (naturally), pauses and decides to vote for one other candidate who has been especially nice to good ole mom during the campaign.
Mom’s favorite candidate (her child) then loses the election by one vote. That other candidate and very nice person mom decided to vote for, wins by one vote.
The real, tangible how it works on Kaua‘i bottom line: Moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, children and hard-core supporters of the candidate will often only cast one vote in the Kaua‘i County Council race.
This is called “plunking”.
Block voting is an expanded variation of the one vote, all powerful plunk. Block voting is usually a three or four votes maximum, but the same principle applies.
The block voter selects only those candidates who they truly want to get elected, who they believe truly represent their core values, and who might be expected to work together on the council.
Triple bottom line in case you didn’t understand the first two: For Kaua‘i voters, vote sparingly, vote only for those candidates you know and trust, and never vote the full seven just because you can.
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Gary Hooser served eight years in the state Senate, where he was majority leader. He also served for eight years on the Kaua‘i County Council. He presently writes on Hawai‘i Policy and Politics at www.garyhooser.blog.
