STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1116

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 638

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 638, 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 require the use of the instant runoff voting method for elections for county office in which no primary election is held and in special elections that would normally be subject to a runoff election if a candidate was not elected by majority vote in the initial special election.  The intent of this measure is to provide additional electoral safeguards to preserve the integrity of Hawaii's voting system.

 

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i, Common Cause Hawaii, Fair Vote – The Center for Voting and Democracy, and three individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Elections.

 

Your Committee finds that under a plurality election, when there are more than two candidates running in an election, a candidate with a small percentage of the vote may be elected.  The candidate who is elected may not necessarily represent the electorate.  Under an instant runoff voting method, voters are allowed to rank their choices.  This method can eliminate a spoiler effect in which a third candidate may win, even though the majority of the electorate prefers the other two candidates over the candidate who wins in the end.  Moreover, a voter may be more comfortable voting for the more preferred candidates, even if the voter knows that the preferred candidate is unlikely to win.

 

     Your Committee notes that the Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i and Common Cause Hawaii recommended amendments to this measure to simplify the process and speed the tabulations by providing that, if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round of the election, the county clerk would announce that all but the four candidates receiving the most votes are defeated and only those four candidates would proceed to the second round of the tabulation.  Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i and Common Cause Hawaii suggested this amendment to avoid situations where a large number of candidates for one office would require several rounds of tabulations.  While your Committee acknowledges that this method would simplify the tabulation process, your Committee also believes that the amendment could produce an arbitrary result if, for example, there is not a large difference between the number of votes received by the candidates with the fourth and fifth highest number of votes. 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of consistency and clarity.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 638, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 638, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair