Raising Cane
By Rob Perez
Moanalua school vote
leaves sense of deja vuImagine a presidential election in which a candidate loses by five or six votes, requests a recount, then wins by 39.
Imagine that the group formed to count the votes isn't asked to do the recount and only learns via a public notice that the other candidate won.
And then imagine that the two candidates are good friends.
Students at Moanalua High School, one of the state's largest, don't have to imagine such a scenario.
Those were the circumstances that played out last month when Moanalua underclassmen picked their student association president for the next school year.
The way the election was handled still bothers some students and has given rise to comparisons with the 2000 U.S. presidential election in Florida, where a controversy over "hanging chads" delayed George W. Bush's narrow victory over Al Gore.
The Moanalua race wasn't plagued by chad problems -- ballots that weren't punched completely, causing some doubt as to who the person was voting for. But some students questioned the process used at Moanalua to declare the winner -- a questioning that likely will contribute to a lingering distrust many young people have about elections in general.
That's not a good thing when the state has embarked on a campaign to encourage high school students to become registered voters once they turn 18, the legal voting age.
The state is trying to improve dismal registration numbers among young people, a problem not unique to Hawaii.
Only 27.6 percent of Hawaii's 18- and 19-year-olds eligible to vote were registered in 1998, the most recent data available, according to Rex Quidilla, administrative assistant to the state's chief elections officer.
Last week the state, in conjunction with Sassy Magazine, launched a music-laced voter education drive aimed at high schools. About 30 schools, including Moanalua, so far are on the schedule.
Quidilla's office also is working with the Department of Education to try to reinstitute voter education as part of the required social studies curriculum.
"Starting early (in the high school years) is the way you address this" apathy, he said.
When Moanalua's roughly 1,500 freshmen, sophomores and juniors were asked to mark their ballots March 1, they were able to choose between two presidential candidates with stellar credentials:
>> Ashlee Cardenas, a National Honors Society student, recording secretary for the student association, on the school's cross-country and wrestling teams and a viola player in the concert orchestra, to name some of her activities.
>> Lizzy Lynch, also a National Honors student, vice president of the student association, an oboe player in the symphonic orchestra and symphonic wind ensemble and flute player in the marching band, to name a few of her activities.
(In the interest of full disclosure, my son, Justin, is a Moanalua junior and friends with both candidates.)
After the ballots were cast, junior Raelyn Wilson, head of the student elections committee, assembled her eight-member group to count the votes, with student activities coordinator Sherwin Pang observing.
Their unofficial tally, completed that Friday afternoon after school ended, had Lynch winning 623 or 624 to 618.
But because Moanalua's student government rules permit recounts if the spread is less than 25, Cardenas asked for one.
By then, however, the elections committee already had left, Pang said, so he asked two students he considered trustworthy to do the recount that same day.
The new tally: Cardenas, 617, Lynch, 578.
The results were posted on campus the following Monday, triggering loads of speculation once word spread about what happened and, in some cases, straining relationships among supporters of the two candidates.
Several elections committee members questioned why they weren't involved in the recount.
"Somebody messed up, and it wasn't me or my committee," said Wilson, who wanted the school administration to look into the matter. "I'm not fighting for her (Lynch), I'm fighting for what is right."
Kelli Sugamoto, another committee member, said the group was careful in counting the ballots. "I don't see how we could've made (that many) errors," she said.
But Pang, who supervised both counts, said the committee probably double counted some ballots or tally sheets, resulting in the higher initial total for Lynch.
He said he didn't want to wait until the Monday following the vote to assemble the elections committee, believing that leaving the ballots over the weekend would have fueled speculation about tampering.
The prolonged controversy over the Florida election results, which were disputed for months, played into his decision, he said. "I didn't want that to happen here."
Pang defended the school's process, saying no matter who did the recount the results would've been the same. "As far as I'm concerned, it was done properly," he said. "The bottom line is the totals are not going to change."
For her part, Cardenas, 16, is looking forward to heading next year's student government and wishes students will let the election controversy go. "We've got to be grown up about it," she said. "It's over."
Lynch, 16, said she has no problems with the results -- just how the election was handled. "They didn't do it in a very good way."
Lynch said she plans to remain active in student government and that she and Cardenas remain good friends. "I know she's going to do a good job," Lynch said.
Although questions remain about the recount, Moanalua students can take from the controversy the same point that was underscored by the Florida fiasco: In a close election, a few votes can make a huge difference.
That's a good lesson to learn, especially for students of voting age, as Hawaii heads into a critical election this fall.
Star-Bulletin columnist Rob Perez writes on issues
and events affecting Hawaii. Fax 529-4750, or write to
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. He can also be reached
by e-mail at: rperez@starbulletin.com.
