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Associated Press
Hawaii's Electoral College members, wearing leis and
casting their votes for the Gore-Lieberman team yesterday,
are, from left, Pedro E. Racelis Jr., Michael T. Amii, Joy
Kobashigawa Lewis and Marsha R. Joyner.

Hawaii’s four votes
go to the Democrat ticket

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By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii's four electoral votes for president and vice president were officially cast for Vice President Al Gore and U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, continuing the tradition that this is a state Democrats can count on.

In a ceremony held at the Lieutenant Governor's Office yesterday, Hawaii electors Marsha R. Joyner, Joy Kobashigawa Lewis, Michael T. Amii and Pedro E. Racelis Jr. cast the last Electoral College votes in the nation with little fanfare but with a lot of Hawaii Democrats paternally watching over their shoulders as they signed the onion-paper ballots.

The afternoon signing was anticlimactic because Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, had won a majority of the electoral votes about two hours before the ceremony began.

Nevertheless, the room erupted in applause after Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono declared Gore and Lieberman as the winners. State Chief Elections Officer Dwayne Yoshina then explained how the 538 electoral votes will be officially counted in Congress.

The U.S. Senate and House will meet on Jan. 6, 2001, to count the votes by alphabetical order of the states. The Senate president is expected to announce Bush and Cheney the winners, and they will be sworn in at noon on Jan. 20, 2001.

Hirono praised Hawaii's electoral system for having an independent Office of Elections. If anything, she said, the Florida presidential recount showed it was a good thing to have.

Hawaii's four electors are invited to the January inauguration, but must pay their own way.