By HUNTER BISHOP
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Errors in assigned polling places on voter registration notices have prompted the County Elections Division to resend more than 101,000 of the yellow cards to voters next week.
The card is the pre-election notice to voters confirming their address, precinct, district and polling place. The cards were mailed out to all registered voters on July 18. But next week, all 101,728 notices, some revised, will be mailed again.
County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi, who oversees the Elections Division, said some of the cards in the first mailing provided incorrect polling places attributed to state reapportionment and county redistricting prior to this election, which changed some boundaries and altered some voters’ assigned polling places. In one case, Kawauchi said confusion arose over a “street” and an “avenue” that both had the same name.
In another case, moving a street to a new precinct in 2012 apparently “didn’t take” when program changes were applied by the Elections Division staff.
Kawauchi couldn’t say how many yellow cards that were sent had errors. On July 12, she assured the media and elected officials at a press conference that her staff had to match some 26,000 voters with their polling places from the list of registered voters provided by the state and that it had been successfully accomplished within 30 days. But problems began to surface, and now she wants to make sure every voter is getting complete and accurate information.
Kawauchi was unaware of the cost of the two mailings when interviewed on Tuesday. Phone messages left for Kawauchi and others in the Clerk’s office on Wednesday were not returned.
The state Office of Elections said that the county bears the cost of mailing the yellow cards. Spokesman Rex Quidilla said it would be the first time that all of an election division’s yellow cards were sent to voters twice.
Kawauchi also received calls from voters receiving permanent absentee ballots who said their district and precinct are on the card, but not their polling place. However, absentee ballot holders “are expected to vote by mail,” Kawauchi said. If a voter with an absentee ballot does want to vote at a polling place on election day, the polling place could be found by matching the district and precinct with the polling places listed on either the county or state elections websites.
She said the new mailing will include polling places on the yellow card whether it’s an absentee ballot or not.
Kawauchi also touted the Hawaii Tribune-Herald’s election insert to be published on Friday with polling places listed for all voters. She encouraged voters to use the insert as a “tear-out guide” to the primary election on Aug. 11.
Part of a review of voter registration records this past weekend, which caused the County Elections Office to close without notice on Monday to complete the review, was to “make sure we cover pocket precinct voters,” Kawauchi said. Voters in “pocket districts,” which do not have a polling place this year, will receive absentee ballots in the mail.
Kawauchi said those are the only issues with the yellow cards that she’s aware of based on telephone calls received at the Elections Office since the initial mailing went out.
The County of Hawaii has 101,728 registered voters for the Aug. 11 primary election.
Otherwise, some voters say they haven’t received their cards, while others are being returned to the office for incorrect addresses or returned from family members who say the voter moved away.
These are not unusual discrepancies, Kawauchi said, adding that voters who haven’t received a card by Friday should call the Elections DivisionsOffice.
Kawauchi said she and her staff are doing the “best we can” to eliminate errors in the voter registration process and that the recent boundary changes have made the job more difficult this year. But the card is important, she said, “especially with our new district lines.”
The Elections Division, responsible for all election activities in the county, is one of seven administrative and support sections of the legislative branch of the county that fall under the administrative responsibility of the Hawaii County Clerk.
For district and precinct locations, check the County’s Elections Division website at http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/lb-clerk-elections/. To contact the Elections Division with questions about voter registration, call 961-8277 in Hilo, and 323-4400 in Kona.
Email Hunter Bishop at hbishop@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
