Elections Office

[csgray]

I think the messes were localized, if you were at the right (or wrong) precinct you may have had problems, not just here, there were polling stations on other islands that opened late or had misdirected people to the wrong place. I think any human endeavor will have the occasional SNAFU, that is why checklists and back up systems are so important.

I was taking all the complaining about the elections division with a grain of salt, until I encountered total cluelessness when I turned my absentee ballot in at the elections division. The fact that I turned my ballot in to one person, who didn't know what to do with it, and then handed it off to yet another person, who just walked away with it to their desk, has left me wondering if my ballot got counted, or was it simply lost in the elections division office somewhere? I am still not convinced my ballot was secured until election day and then actually counted, until that moment I did not realize how much reassurance I got in the past from the act of placing my ballot into a locked official container.

It isn't enough to simply count all the votes correctly, you have to have an electorate who has faith in the system, and who BELIEVE their votes will be counted, so appearances really do matter. The flip side of that is people and the media shouldn't go to extraordinary lengths to pump up hysteria about the elections system just to cause some excitement, because it undermines the confidence of the voters. I don't know how we balance the need for vigilance with the need to not unnecessarily destroy people's belief in the system, but we need to find that balance.

Carol

[Rob Tucker]

"The flip side of that is people and the media shouldn't go to extraordinary lengths to pump up hysteria about the elections system just to cause some excitement"...

You got that right! We have some "media" that likes to create news. Easier than researching and reporting I guess.

[Obie]

I agree ,bloggers who think they are news media were the cause of all of this hysteria.

It's unbelievable to me that they are complaining about not getting a tour of the election office and interviews at 4:00 AM.

I believe they had better things to do on election day.

[csgray]

I think there are many different sides to this story, the Elections division boss for Hawaii county may or may not be the person at fault here, but as the head person they are ultimately responsible. I feel like the only people who really know what went down over the last year in that office are the people who work there. I also know that when a popular boss and coworkers are fired that the people left behind can present a lot of resistance to the new boss, including outright sabotage of their efforts. That dynamic is why big corporations and most governments use a hatchet man to come in and fire people and reorganize things, the hatchet man is then replaced a year or so later by someone else, who is welcomed just because they are replacing that SOB hatchet man, not the beloved old guard.

If I had been given the task of taking over that office I would have scheduled a working lunch, fed my new coworkers and employees like queens and kings out of my own pocket, and had on off the record conversation assuring them that they and their collective knowledge were valued, that I wanted to hear their opinions, and that while I might still make changes, I would always be open to hearing their reasons for how they do things. I don't know if that sort of proactive effort was made, but anyone taking over that office was walking into a minefield.

The shutting out of ALL the press, not just "new" media like blogs was a tactical error, it gives the appearance of having something to hide. However, it seems like communication is not the best skill of the new elections division head.

Carol

[punaticbychoice]

Carol, the person in question is the County Clerk.
So this is a big political issue, like it or not.
I just wish this situation had never occurred.
I'm just worried about the competent management of the process.
Elections are, to put it as bluntly as possible, together with the 2nd Amendment, the the ultimate guarantee of our rights.
I appreciate your nuanced and well reasoned statement however.
Thank you so very much.

[opihikao]

Mahalo for the comments and experiences. Guess we will get the factual information soon. AG's office being consulted; County Council calling special meeting to hear directly from Clerk on Monday, 8/20 @10am (public testimony accepted); State Elections debriefing held in Hilo tomorrow.

I appreciate all the media who dedicated their time to make sure the public knew what was transpiring, since the Clerk virtually shut everyone out, including (initially)the State Elections Office.

If we were to believe the Clerk, only one voting site was late in opening, while the media (main stream) reports up to 24-25 were late from a few minutes, up to an hour and a half. Thus, the Gov. issues the proclamation.

Sure hope he didn't just listen to the media. Surely he made that sound decision to keep the polls open longer based on some credible concern. Right?

Don't think this is over yet. By a long shot. IMO, the cloud of "election fraud" started the media frenzy, and it all went downhill from there.

Over 45 years of watching elections, and this is one for the books. Never seen anything like it, and hope to never see another one. Just my opinion.

[Rene Siracusa]

I received my yellow card and although I do not live in a pocket precinct there was no polling place indicated on it. I went to the Elections office for information. I was told that I could vote absentee/walk-in or go to the Pahoa community center. I voted walk-in on the second day. On Aug. 10 I received a 2nd yellow card with my polling place listed. I could have gone in and voted twice, because that means that I would not be listed in the poll book as AB (absentee).

I just learned that a group from Maku'u HHL went to Keonepoko and it was closed. No one told them there was a delay (missing pollbook), so they thought they had the wrong location AND NEVER VOTED. There are a lot more stories about irregularities than we know.

The previous director of the Elections Office, Patricia Nakamoto, was cleared of charges by the Court and Jamae was ordered to restore her to work. Instead, the minute Pat came back, Jamae put her on administrative leave. Pat has run many successful elections and I am confident that these problems would not have arisen had she been in charge - especially since Jamae has no such experience. Well, it shows. The question now remains: will Dominic throw Jamae to the wolves and fire her and bring back Pat for the general? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Rob Tucker]

It seems to me that Jamae was a bit shocked to discover the voter lists had duplicates in them. If you find one duplicate you have to look for more... hence the audit. Jamae had just a short time till the primary to find out the extent of compromise of the voter lists. I believe she was doing her job and doing it well and thoroughly with the right purpose and priorities.

But some noses got out of joint.... and the sabotage began.

The problem here began with the previous election officer not Jamae. The voter lists should have been clean. They weren't.

Just my opinion.

[wax]

I respectfully disagree. The problem began first when Jamae and Dominic ignored the labor contract and summarily fired the entire elections office - apparently without consideration of either the contract or the effect such an action would have on the election which was then fast coming up. They then chose, despite knowing they were acting against the labor contract, to grandstand and take the issue to the papers. All of this blew up in their faces - and the legal costs and repercussions are far from over. To make matters worse, and continue the malfeasance, the two did not allow Pat back to work even though so ordered by higher authority.

Volunteers were, as could absolutely have been predicted, not happy to work for the County Clerk who had acted less than legally. Training new workers and finding new volunteers clearly did not work and all reported that the moral and operation of the newly constructed department was very poor. Things continued downhill - and no sign of stopping yet.

Note that the problems were not simply duplicate entries for several voters. The problems included errors on the yellow cards, not sending appropriate supplies in a timely manner to poling stations- resulting in late openings (and then with no information for early and on time voters who gave up on voting), closing offices without warning before the election, election workers (by now third and fourth string with no background or training) who did not know how to answer questions - and the list goes on. The point is that the whole series of events started with a thoughtless set of actions that were neither legal nor wise. Thankfully we do not have four years of this management to look forward to.

My guess is that the County Council will dismiss the Clerk and - if thoughtful - replace the Council Chair in hopes of putting in place an administration that can clean the whole mess up. But then it is all political.

[Rob Tucker]

Still sounds like sabotage to me. Reads like a classic set up.