Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 9, 1 September 1994 — Sovereignty eouneil moves plebiscite to January 1996 [ARTICLE]

Sovereignty eouneil moves plebiscite to January 1996

by Deborah L. Ward The Hawaiian Sovereignty Elections Council has pushed back to January 1996 the date it will conduct a plebiscite of Hawaiian voters on whether there should be a process for re-estab-lishing a form of Hawaiian sovereignty. The eouneil voted to move back the date at its Aug. 16 meeting because it needs additional time to develop its elections rules, whieh set out all major policies for such things as: voter eligibility. enforcement policy and penalties. a process for handling ehallenges to the validity or legality of elections, and whieh specifies whieh laws the election will follow , for example, state or international law. The plebisicite was originally scheduled for fall 1995. The eouneil also moved back the start date for registering Hawaiian voters to January 1995, said its executive director, Lulani McKenzie. The eouneil will present its revised timetable to the OHA Board of Trustees this month, she said. The Hawaiian Sovereignty Elections Council will eominue to conduct education programs for Hawaiians about sovereignty.

During the summer the eouneil conducted public meetings and featured speakers on different models of sovereignty. A new campaign will be launched this fall, McKenzie said, coordinated by a media consultant for loeal and national media outreach. The eouneil will also hire a voter education services coordinator to plan, develop and manage the educational programs using the media, special events, workshops and door-to-door community outreach. The elections eouneil has an appropriation of up to $1.1 million from state general funds and OHA funds for voter education and the plebiscite. The council's other primary responsibilities are to: develop an apportionment plan for the election of delegates to a convention; to establish the eligibility of convention delegates; to carry out the responsibilities necessary for the election and convening of delegates; and to establish task forces and eommittees necessary to assist the commission in its work. The eouneil voted in June to include Hawaiians living in Hawai'i, on the mainland U.S.

and worldwide in the plebisicite. Details of the registration process are still to be determined. Last month, the eouneil voted: • to set the eligible age for voting in the plebiscite at 18 years old; and • to allow Hawaiians who are incarcerated, on probation or on parole (who otherwise could not vote) to participate in the

plebiscite. While some eouneil members still favored allowing 16-year-olds to vote, others noted that the council's apportionment eommitee could still decide to make 16-year-olds eligible to run as delegates to the convention. No final decision has yet been made by the eouneil on the wording of the ballot question. At its

Aug. 16 meeting, the HSEC voted to administer the plebiscite itself through separate contracts to qualified organizations or vendors for services such as printing, stuffing, mailing and counting ballots. Elections committee chair Klna'u Kamali'i said the committee favored the latter continued on page 20

Sovereignty eouneil from page 3

option in order to avoid giving the impression that the state is running the election. Also still to be decided by the eouneil was whether to contract with the Office of the City Clerk to computerize and maintain the voters' roll and to assist in the registration process. The office could assist the eouneil to develop and design a special voter registration form. Kamali'i's report noted that the City Clerk's Office is both the most experienced entity eapahle of maintaining the needed computerization and filing of electors. Another option would require significant investment in computer equipment, duplicative data entry and raise questions about security and integrity of records. The HSEC is made up of 20 members appointed by the governor last year: 12 from O'ahu, two from the island of Hawai'i, and one eaeh from Maui, Moloka'i, Lāna'i, Ni'ihau, Kaua'i and the continental United States. Two original sov-

ereignty commission members, businessman Aimoku McClellan and Bishop Estate land manager Robert Lindsey, resigned in July, citing their other work demands. Also resigning last month were LaFrance KapakaArboleda and Louis "Buzzy" Agard. Hawaiian organizations were invited to submit by Sept. 7 two names of individuals they believe are qualified, capable and have the time to serve on the eouneil. The eouneil will be able to select new nominees from this master list, although appointments to vacant positions will be filled by Gov. Waihe'e. Council members were required by law to resign by Aug. 31 if they wished to run next year as delegates to a future Hawaiian convention. This is to avoid a conflict of interest because the eouneil will be making decisions about the Hawaiian convention, apportionment plans and criteria for the convening of delegates.