Did you vote early?

[Miulang]

Re: Did you vote early?

Maybe a long time ago Hawaii used to ask your party afflication at the polls but for as long as I have been voting in the City&County of Honolulu (which dates back to 1984) they never asked that at the polling place.

Must've been awhile back, then, Helen. My mom voted Republican one year and every year after that, the Republicans would bug us to vote for their candidates (she ignored them).

Just to show you how insidious the two main parties are, I have never been a Republican party supporter (i.e., never made a monetary contribution), but I keep getting bombarded by spam from the RNC! Could be that someone who doesn't like me got me added to their list! ROFL

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Did you vote early?

Must've been awhile back, then, Helen.

In other words, you're wrong. Again.

For at least the past 10 years or so, I've never felt that my privacy was being compromised when I voted. Nobody could tell what party I was voting for, due to the reasons Helen so clearly pointed out.

And still I wonder, what exactly does all of this have to do with voting early in the state of Hawaii?

[damontucker]

Re: Did you vote early?

I myself feel that you should be able vote in what ever party you want to... as long as it's in your district.

It doesn't make a lot of sense if your only limited to vote one way or the other....
but then again... I know nothing about politics.

[Keanu]

Re: Did you vote early?

but then again... I know nothing about politics.

Well, you're supporting Case, so your ignorance is pretty obvious.

[damontucker]

Re: Did you vote early?

I'm not supporting anyone.... I just want to know the facts one way the other...

I said I was going to vote for Case.... however, I don't support candidates (Except for 1stwahine for President of MWH Tenants Association)

I won't even sign wave if they were to pay me!

And a vote online for case from me is probably giving 5 to Akaka.... so I'll shut my mouth up now!

However, I am learning more and more about each candidate so my vote is still up in the air at this time...and to tell you the truth.... I might just be to lazy to vote.... however, I'm still interested in the issues.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Did you vote early?

For the primary election you are supposed to vote for just the candiates in one party and whatever non-partisan races they are (like the mayor and county council) at the time.

With the balloting system we have now, everything is on one sheet of paper that gets scanned in to a machine but that paper is in sections. One section is all the Democrats, another section is all the Republican, another section is Libertarian, another section is Green, another section is the independents and then of course the non-partisan races. You just vote in one section and the non-partisan races.

Thanks for the info, Helen. I'd go into detail about where the similarities or differences are with the WA ballot, but we all know the response that would provoke. If anyone's curious, we can PM.

[mel]

Re: Did you vote early?

Based on my many years of voting, this is what I can say for the Hawaii elections process.

1. The Board of Education races are open to everyone on the "school district" to vote for everyone running in that district.

Members of the Board of Education are nominated in a nonpartisan Primary Election and elected in a nonpartisan General Election. Nomination papers must be obtained from and submitted to the Chief Election Officer in a prescribed manner. Contests are conducted in an at‑large format, affording every registered voter of a school board district the opportunity to vote for each and every candidate seeking election from such school board district.

http://www.hawaii.gov/elections/fact...ml/fsbo135.htm

So like for my area, even though I don't live on the Windward side, the 3 candidates running for the seat were on the ballot. You vote for 1 candidate.

There is a race in the central district with 2 candidates running. They were not on the ballot, but I believe they will be on the general election ballot since the race is for only 1 seat.

The At-Large primary for BOE weeds out the slate of nearly a dozen candidates down to 6 for the general at which time the top 3 vote getters will be elected.

2. City Council races are district specific, non-partisan. Some districts have no candidates because the council terms are staggered. Someone running in a constested primary can win a council seat outright by getting 50% + 1 vote in this cycle. If not the top 2 vote getters face in a run-off in the general.

3. Hawaii's primary election has been "restricted" to voting in only one party for many years in those races where party affiliation is allowed. Long ago you had to declare yourself a member of one party or another before you went to vote, but that was changed sometime in the 1970s where you now choose the party you want to vote for "in secret" at the ballot box.

The Primary Election is a nomination process to choose candidates who will represent the political parties at the General Election. You, the voter, select the candidates of the political party of your choice. Your choice of party and candidates remains secret.

When voting in the primary, you are presented with a set of color-coded party ballots on a Ballot Card, but must vote on only one party or nonpartisan ballot. Selecting candidates from more than one party ballot or nonpartisan ballot will invalidate your vote.

http://www.hawaii.gov/elections/fact...ml/fsvs522.htm

Republicans for example who choose to crossover to the D side will not be able to choose their preferred candidates in other races if they crossed to vote for Rep. Case.

4. On placing your ballot in assigned ballot counting machines: I think because at the Honolulu Hale polling place and perhaps all others, they have to sort the ballots out by districts and precincts so placing them in certain machines are probably required to make the counting process easier. I don't know if Office of Elections pick up all the ballots at the end of the voting day for processing this weekend or if they just leave them in the machines until the absentee walk-in period is over tomorrow afternoon.

Needless to say, I went to Honolulu Hale today and cast my vote. The line was very short, the process was fairly quick and I was out of there in less than a half hour. My ballot was #785 when it was inserted into the counting machine.

There were also about 8 electronic voting machines at the polling place.

So I guess a question here is did you choose paper or plastic? I mean electronic?

[damontucker]

Re: Did you vote early?

This well thought out explanation that is still confusing however, has helped me a bit, and might explain why there is such a low voter turn out....

It's freaking complicated to really be an informed voter.... I'd rather be a non voter that an influenced voter..... why else Bush in office now?

[mel]

Re: Did you vote early?

For comprehensive information on the entire election process go here:

Hawaii State Office of Elections:
http://www.hawaii.gov/elections

[Linkmeister]

Re: Did you vote early?

I went for the old SAT-style ballots, so paper. There was one machine with a hood which looked like the replay booths you see on the sidelines of football games; I assume that was the e-machine (touchscreen?) for the early adopters and the sight-impaired folks.

While I was in there (15 minutes or so) I saw no one use the e-machine.

You know what else? That was the emptiest I've ever seen the Pearlridge Satellite City Hall. There were no people in line for car registrations or any of the other transactions that can be done in there. None. Zero.

I was tempted to think of something I should do, like transfer title of an asset to somebody.

[scrivener]

Re: Did you vote early?

Okay. A few things.

Miulang's concern is legitimate, of course. With the open primaries we have, there's nothing to stop crossover voting for devious, political reasons. However, with the open primaries we have, there's nothing to stop crossover voting for ANY reason -- including reasons having to do with liking a candidate better and supporting him or her, regardless of party affiliation. Giving voters the chance to back their candidates is worth whatever silly manipulations some might try, if you ask me. Sure, we could just forget the party thing entirely in the primary, and there are pluses and minuses to that, but a big plus is that parties get the chance to see how their supporters feel and then work accordingly toward the general. I'm not really willing to give that up, despite disliking the two-party system we pretty much have. I guess in the long run, what I really mean is that WHATEVER reason you have for voting for whomever you vote for is totally valid. That's the beauty of the secret ballot.

For the BOE, the reason I was allowed to vote for the Windward boardmember is that we still have one school district for the entire state. This only partially makes sense, so I try not to think about it too much.

Manoa says, "It's freaking complicated to really be an informed voter.... I'd rather be a non voter that an influenced voter....?"

Yes, it IS freaking complicated, and it takes a lot of time, and I don't know anyone who really spends as much time and energy as one should on understanding the issues and candidates. However, if you think it's better to be a non-voter than to be an ignorant voter, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE reconsider.

If you gave your kid half an hour beyond bed time to spend reading quietly, your kid might really like that. But if, over the course of a few months, your kid slowly used less and less of that time for reading and more and more of it for goofing off, what would you do? Probably take that reading time away, right? Your kid doesn't use it for what you have in mind, you take the privilege away.

Elections are like that. We, the citizens, are given the opportunity to choose the people who make our laws. We're given the freedom to choose these lawmakers any way we wish, so that even if I'm an idiot and make all my votes based on whose navel I'd like to get more familiar with, that's totally okay, because NOBODY can make me vote for someone I don't wanna vote for.

That's not something to be taken for granted. It's precious. For all its flaws, it's what makes America what America is. And if you we, the citizens, decide we don't want to vote anymore, the privilege will be taken away from us, the way you'd take the extended bedtime away from your kid.

Therefore, don't you think it's better to vote ignorantly than not to vote at all? When you vote in ignorance, you are at least saying you believe in the process enough to want to keep it. That's why a blank ballot is NOT the same as not showing up. A blank ballot is a vote for continuing the democratic process.

[damontucker]

Re: Did you vote early?

Thanks for the input scriv....

and I do have faith in the voting system.... I just don't have faith in myself as a voter...

there are too many times when I have cast my ballot only to be burned by the one I trusted in.... they get elected...and then whether they get busted or not... I see something I don't like in them that would have prevented me from voting for them in the first place.

[scrivener]

Re: Did you vote early?

But do you hear what I'm saying? A blank ballot is still a vote! It's still participating in the process! So if you have no faith in yourself (and really, that's a dumb reason! We all have voted for people who we got irritated with, except for me, since nobody I vote for ever wins), at least suit up for the game and cast a blank ballot. Please. I'm serious. That's how you keep the democratic process alive.

[damontucker]

Re: Did you vote early?

I believe in the democratic process scriv...

I just don't believe in the motives of "most" of those that run...not all

Power trip...nuff said.

[helen]

Re: Did you vote early?

It's not a question of picking the winner, it's a question of who think will work best for you. If that person wins great, if not there is always the next term.

And the wasted ballot (should that issue come up), it's the ballot that is never cast.