Police will investigate a complaint alleging Hawaii County Council District 5 candidate Tiffany Edwards Hunt committed voter fraud by registering to vote from her husband’s surf shop in Pahoa rather than her home in Hawaiian Acres during the 2012 election.
County Clerk Stewart Maeda, who first sent the complaint to the Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said he forwarded the matter to the Hawaii Police Department after the prosecutor’s office said it needed an investigation to be done before it could review the issue.
Police Capt. Robert Wagner said the complaint will be investigated and a report will be sent to prosecutors.
“We’ll probably get it done within a month,” he said.
Puna residents Sativa Sultan and Frankie Stapleton made the complaint to the Clerk’s Office.
Edwards Hunt, who has not been charged with a crime, called the complaint “political theater.”
“I believe that there’s no merit to any of this and I’m happy to sit down with anyone in law enforcement,” she said.
According to the county’s election records, Edwards Hunt listed the surf shop at 15-2883 Pahoa Village Road as her voting address during the 2010 and 2012 elections before changing it back to her home on Wao Kele Road.
In the 2012 election, her home was in Council District 5, while the surf shop was in Council District 4.
In the 2010 election, Edwards Hunt’s home was in Council District 6, while the surf shop was in Council District 5.
District boundaries changed for the 2012 election following redistricting.
Wagner said police will focus their investigation on the 2012 election since 2010 is beyond the statute of limitations for such cases.
Voter fraud is a class C felony.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
