Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 8, 1 August 1996 — Arguments for anel against the Native Hawaiian Vote [ARTICLE]

Arguments for anel against the Native Hawaiian Vote

The following are the principle arguments for and against the vote. Hawaiians should review and take note of these if they are unsure about what the vote will mean for themselves and all Hawaiians.

Against • The Vote, and the Hawaiian Sovereignty Elections Council was created and supporīed by the Hawai'i state Legislature. HSEC was appointed by, and is accountable to, the state, not the Hawaiian people. Therefore. this plebiscite is not independent. • HSEC is using a OHA voter list that has been shown to have unqualified voters listed. Anyone who claims Hawaiian ancestry ean vote, without verifying ancestry. • Hawaiians need more time to educate themselves on the issue before they ean decide their future. • Act 200 says that nothing coming out of the plebiscite or the convention will have any effect on the state constitution or state law. • A no vote will represent a serious setback for the sovereignty movement and could possibly derail it altogether.

For ° Currently, monies eome from OHA and the Legislature. There has been no case in whieh the state has tried to influence the process. ° The balloting process is actually helping to elean up the list. Non-Hawaiians who are receiving the ballots in the mail and calling HSEC to tell them they are not Hawaiian. 0 Hawaiians have been waiting for more than 100 years. How mueh more time is needed. The same people saying more time is needed are having pūwalu and trying to pass legislation that would transfer ceded lands into the hands of their group. ° Act 200 only provides that actions taken as a result of the Act do not automatically change the Hawai'i Constitution, state law, ordinances, rules or regulations. There is nothing in Section 14 that suggests in any way that the state will ignore the results of decisions made by Hawaiians. ° A "no" vote will slow down the process but, if Hawaiians want change, it will eventually eome about. It will just take more than one vote to do this.