Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 5, 1 May 1988 — OHA Joins Concerted Drive to Register Voters [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA Joins Concerted Drive to Register Voters

Vo!unteers Needed for Biq lnitiative

"Have your say the American way," headlines a new voter registration initiative being spearheaded this year by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor Voter/Community Services division. In order to build up the declining statewide voter turnout at Primary and General Elections, voter registrar staff are launching a concerted outreach program to business and the private sector, eommunities, schools, state and county agencies. The program in part calls for community involvement at all levels to help sign up increased numbers of voters.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is one of the agencies participating in the program with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to conduct outreach and register eligible Hawaiian voters. As part of this effort, OHA is also now recruiting interested volunteers who would like to become short-term deputy voter registrars. For example, members of Hawaiian civic and cultural organizations are invited to become registrars and sign up voters through their groups and in their home communities. This civic responsibility is especially important because Hawaiian voters must register as OHA voters in order to receive a special ballot to vote in the OHA Board of Trustees eleehon being held concurrent!y with the General Election Nov. 8, 1988.

Any Hawaii resident who is a U.S. citizen, who will be 18 by the General Election, and who is registered to vote ean become a deputy registrar. College students, employees of small and large businesses, institutions and organizations and senior citizen groups are being contacted by the Lt. Governor's voter registration office to become deputy voter registrars. To reach eligible high school voters, student registrars in high schools are encouraged to participate in the registrar program. OHA will be organizing classroom presentations to public and private schools with a high percentage of Hawaiian students. Upon eomplehon of a short required training program, these volunteer officials will carry out the paperwork of signing up eligible voters where they live, work and play — in schools, businesses, eommunity organizations, public events, shopping

centers, wherever people gather. Registration time ean be scheduled to fit around work hours, such as in the evening or on weekends. Volunteers are also needed to go into schools to make presentations to motivate students to register and vote. Noboru Yonamine, director of state Voter/Community Services, notes that of over 634,000 persons eligible to vote in Hawaii, only 53 percent showed up at the polls in the last election, reflecting a downward trend in voter turnout. "If we don't stop it now," he reflected, "by 1990 it will go below the 50 percent Ievel." He added that while Hawaii does rank high in voter registration, the state ranks near the bottom of all states in actual voter participation in elections. For information on becoming a deputy volunteer registrar eall OHA Volunteer Coordinator Solomon Loo at 261-3285 or 946-2642, or voter registration specialist Espe Cadavona at LG's office, 548-2544.

Steve Hirashima of the Lieutenant Governor's office presents senior Ronda Loque of Roosevelt her deputy voter registrar card, enabling her to register other eligible voters. Hirashima trained a group of Roosevelt students and teachers recentlv.

Leo Cullen, another Roosevelt senior proudly displays Vote '88 poster and his deputy voter registrar card.