A supporter of an incumbent Democrat seeking re-election to a downtown Honolulu House district has challenged the last-minute candidacy of a Republican who is also a campaign employee for GOP gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle. Election challenge filed
in downtown House raceBy Bruce Dunford
Associated PressIn a complaint filed with Chief Election Officer Dwayne Yoshina, Lynne Matusow said James Hardway listed his address on nomination papers filed just before the July 23 filing deadline as Victoria Street.
But as one of 15 registered voters living in the 28th District required to sign the papers, Hardway listed his address as Nuuanu Avenue.
Matusow wants Hardway disqualified and investigated for potential voter fraud.
Hardway said he listed the address of an apartment he plans to move into before the election and said he had noted on his papers that the other address was no longer current.
"If this is something that is going to disqualify me, I'll live with it," he said. "But I think this election should be decided based on my ideas and his ideas. That's what this election should be about."
Democratic incumbent Rep. Kenneth Hiraki would be unopposed if Hardway is disqualified.
Hardway's candidacy took an uncertain turn earlier when the Office of Elections at first rejected it and then reversed itself and put his name on the primary election ballot.
Just before the July 23 filing deadline, election officials rejected three of the 17 signatures Hardway had on his nomination papers, which would have left him one signature shy of the required 15 names. But on July 30, officials found one of the three should have been included, despite having an incorrect Social Security number.
In the complaint filed Tuesday, Matusow, chairwoman of the Downtown Neighborhood Board, argued that either Hardway's address listed as a candidate or his address listed as a voter signing his nomination papers is incorrect, making him unqualified to run.
Hardway, who works as the deputy finance director at the Lingle campaign, said he plans to move into the apartment owned by his boss, Lingle campaign finance director Rae McCorkle, and her husband when they move out.
"In the meantime, I've been crashing on couches at friends' houses around town," he said, adding that it appears from Matusow's complaint that someone had been "following me around town just to see where I was staying.
"Is that all they've got to do?" he said.
Yoshina said he has informed Hardway about the complaint and asked him to respond to the points raised by Matusow.
He has also asked the Attorney General's Office for a legal review and expects to make a decision by Monday or Tuesday and file it with the Circuit Court if it calls for a disqualification.
In the complaint prepared by attorney Andrew Winer, Matusow asked Yoshina to ask the attorney general to investigate potential voter fraud if it is found that Hardway did not live at the address he certified on his nomination papers.
She also raises the issue of two signatures added to Hardway's nomination papers after the 4:30 p.m. filing deadline on July 23 while he was seeking a meeting with election officials for a reconsideration.
Hardway said there was no attempt to deceive election officials with the added signatures, which were pointed out by GOP attorneys during the original dispute over his campaign.
Matusow said on the first page of his nomination papers, Hardway listed his address as Unit 2004 on Victoria Street, presumably the Admiral Thomas condominium, yet on a page of registered voters listed his address on Nuuanu Avenue, presumably the Kukui Plaza condominium.
She also noted that another signer, McCorkle, also listed her address as Unit 2004 on Victoria Street.
"Legal records confirm that Ms. McCorkle's husband, Edward Sultan, owns the unit, and Ms. Matusow requests that the Office of Elections question Ms. McCorkle to determine whether she was residing with Mr. Hardway on July 23, 2002," the complaint says.
"If Ms. McCorkle resided at a different address, then she may also have been ineligible to sign Mr. Hardway's nomination papers."
State Office of Elections
