Bill Text: HI HB1027 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Elections by Mail; Absentee Ballot; Secrecy; Voter Assistance; Election Fraud

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-03-28 - The committee on JDL deferred the measure. [HB1027 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB1027-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO.  886

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1027

      H.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1027, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to provide protections to voters requiring assistance in the completion of their ballots.  Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Specifies that voters requiring assistance to vote at a polling place or by absentee ballot may be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice, but voters shall not be assisted by the voter's employer or agent of that employer, agent of the voter's union, or any candidate that is listed on the ballot;

 

     (2)  Specifies that a violation of the voter assistance law by a voter's employer or agent of that employer, agent of the voter's union, or any candidate that is listed on the ballot shall constitute election fraud;

 

     (3)  Provides that special elections conducted by mail are subject to the same requirement as absentee ballots only in cases of voter assistance;

 

     (4)  Requires that absentee voters affirm by signature that the ballot was completed without assistance by the voter's employer or agent of that employer, agent of the voter's union, or any candidate that is listed on the ballot;

 

     (5)  Requires that absentee ballots contain information regarding election fraud, voter fraud, and related penalties; and

 

     (6)  Clarifies the offense of election fraud.

 

     The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, IMUAlliance, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and numerous concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Office of Elections; Department of the Attorney General; Elections Division Office of the County Clerk, County of Kauai; Office of the County Clerk, County of Maui; and Common Cause Hawaii offered comments on this measure.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2030, to promote further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1027, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1027, H.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

 

____________________________ SYLVIA LUKE, Chair