Left without voting
I lived here for about nine years, got divorced here about five years ago, and went to vote at the same place I have voted every time and have voted religiously. When I got there, I was advised the location changed, and they made us drive three miles farther from home, for reasons unknown.
I got to the other place just to be informed my name was not on the first list, so they checked some backup list and found it. I was directed to … get my ballot. Then there was confusion again, like no one knew what the heck was going on, and they said wait and someone will help you.
I had spent already 1.5 hrs between both places, and I work 11 hours daily like a lot of people, I was on break and time was just not in my favor, so as you must have figured out, I did not vote as I had other responsibilities to attend to — LIKE WORK!
If this is a strategy to get people not to vote, it worked. No wonder Hawaii’s vote never counts in elections. Sorry to say I probably won’t waste my time voting again because of the confusion, disorganization and embarrassment on my part for all the undo attention.
Oh, by the way, my ex-wife who has not lived here for four years could have walked in and voted in 10 minutes or less. She was listed.
Michael Remen
Hilo
A better system?
I’m a Democrat, and I’ll be voting for Russell Ruderman for state senator in District 2. I congratulate him on winning the nomination in a crowded race.
However, his victory underscores a difficulty with the present system of voting in races with more than two candidates. He’ll be on the ballot in the general election as the Democrat because 36.3 percent of the voters cast votes in his favor. This means that 63.7 percent of the voters didn’t want him. Exactly what kind of victory is this? How do you represent the people if most of them didn’t want you there in the first place?
In a preferential voting system, the votes of the lower-polling candidates are distributed among the higher-polling candidates, in line with preferences noted on the ballot by the individual voter, until one candidate achieves a clear majority. This isn’t a perfect method, but it does result in the eventual candidate being a person that is favored at least to some degree by 50-plus percent of the voters. Systems like this are used in several countries and have stood the test of time, preventing situations like the present plurality candidacy and eliminating the need for costly runoff elections.
Patrick Donovan
Keaau
