Low voter turnout
defies explanationThe issue: Hawaii recorded
the nation's lowest voter turnout
in the last presidential election.HAWAII'S dismal voter turnout in the last two presidential elections is too easily ascribed to voter apathy and one-party domination of state politics. Nothing extraordinary has occurred in recent years to explain such plummeting numbers. Political parties, citizen groups and government officials need to examine this strange and embarrassing phenomenon and take appropriate action.
The Census Bureau reports that only 44.1 percent of Hawaii's eligible voters cast ballots in the 2000 election, the lowest percentage in the country by far. The national average was 60 percent, and no other state recorded less than a 52 percent turnout.
In presidential elections from 1980 through 1992, national voter turnout ranged from 62 percent to 68 percent; Hawaii's ranged from a respectable 60 percent to 63 percent. However, while the national turnout dropped to 58 percent in the less-than-scintillating 1996 Clinton-Dole election, Hawaii's dropped to 47.5 percent. The Bush-Gore contest two years ago increased voter participation nationally, but Hawaii's turnout took another dive.
Dwayne Yoshina, Hawaii's chief elections officers, says voter apathy is to blame, but why should this societal problem be worse in Hawaii than elsewhere? Jean Aoki, legislative chairwoman of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, attributes it to lack of competition in political races, and state GOP Chairman Micah Kane says Hawaii's eligible voters feel disenfranchised by a one-party system. But the 2000 presidential race was the closest in history, and Hawaii Republican candidates made their best showing at the polls in decades. Those explanations don't compute.
A nationwide survey showed that 21 percent of nonvoters said they were too busy or had conflicting work or school schedules. That reason may be more prevalent in Hawaii, where a greater percentage of people work at two or more jobs. But that probably was as true during the 1980s as it is today.
Hawaii's 2000 voter registration -- 52.2 percent -- also was the lowest in the country, but the percentage of registered voters in the state who actually went to the polls was rather high. That should spur party leaders to increase their voter-registration efforts.
Hawaii residents can register to vote by mail, but participation could be increased if they also could vote by mail. Oregon reversed its trend of declining voter turnout in the last election by adopting a vote-by-mail system, at the same time saving $3 million by eliminating the need to hire poll workers.
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Girls achieve
a discouraging parityThe issue: Females have
caught up with males in the
number of underage drinkers.SOCIAL acceptance of drinking and marketing alcoholic beverages to young people contribute to the problem of increased alcohol consumption among teenagers. Although laws that restrict drinking have been in place since the 1980s, it appears that those measures alone cannot curb the problem.
When states raised the legal drinking age to 21 from 18, the number of underage drinkers declined. At the time, boys drank considerably more than girls, but a nationwide survey shows that the gender gap has disappeared, with 41 percent of girls reported drinking compared to 40 percent of boys.
In Hawaii, treatment center officials say that for decades girls have kept pace with boys in alcohol abuse. "For those working in the field, girls caught up a long time ago," said Tony Pfaltzgraff, executive director of the Kalihi YMCA, which runs outreach programs at 12 high schools on Oahu. The majority of the youths in these programs had their first drinks by age 14 -- alarming because people who start drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to become alcohol-dependent than those who begin at 21.
A key influence on teenagers is the advertising and the products that attract young people. Almost half of the drinking teenagers in the nationwide survey say they have tried new liquor-based beverages that are sweetened or fruit-flavored to taste more like soda. The alcohol beverage industry denies that it targets youths, much as the tobacco industry did before rules were put in place to prevent them from doing so. However, the survey reported that teenagers were three times more aware than adults of the fruit-flavored drinks and that 14- to 16-year-olds preferred them to beer.
Another common influence on teenagers are parents and other family members. Alcohol abuse often trickles down from one generation to the next. When young people see these adults drinking, they get the message that drinking is OK, which reflects the pervasive societal acceptance of drinking. Even movies and television programs that depict intoxication as humorous affect young people's perception of drinking as the norm.
Short of outlawing liquor completely, the response to the problem may have to be fashioned through several efforts. The industry should take more responsibility by further restricting its marketing to teenagers. Enforcement of liquor-sale laws could be increased. Parental supervision and guidance, however, may be the strongest weapon in preventing alcohol abuse among the nation's youth.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comJohn Flanagan, contributing editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
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