Democrats to
adopt vote plan

In the special election, they
hope to use a system similar
to the one Republicans used

Pearlridge added to absentee list

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By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

Hawaii Democrats, stung by the winning strategy of local Republican get-out-the-vote campaigns in the November election, are now experimenting with a similar plan.

They hope to use it in the Jan. 4 special election to fill U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink's congressional seat.

Because the election features 44 candidates, including several well-known Democratic and Republican candidates, both parties are staying away from endorsing or helping a specific candidate.

Instead, the parties will try to ensure that their own voters and supporters show up at the polls on election day.

Last month, Republicans fielded an organized and well-coordinated campaign that had official GOP poll watchers in each precinct check to make sure GOP supporters in that precinct had voted. If they had not voted, the poll watcher would call GOP volunteers to remind the voter and offer to take them to the polls.

Micah Kane, GOP chairman, credited the coordinated campaign as one of the reasons that Linda Lingle won the governorship.

Now, the Democrats, who had originally complained that the tactic was not fair, are starting their own pilot project to do the same thing.

Chris Ovitt, Democratic Party executive director, sent an e-mail to local Democrats this week calling the poll watcher program "the most pivotal position in our grassroots organization to ensure that we will have the necessary people in place to win in 2004 and 2006."

Ovitt asked for volunteers to staff the polls.

"We will be initiating a Poll Watcher pilot program that will call our identified people in high performance Democratic Districts," Ovitt wrote.

Andy Winer, the Democrats coordinated campaign director, said the Democrats will be limited to "making sure registered Democratic Party members go out and vote."

"We are going through our lists of Democratic Party people who have volunteered in the past and we are asking them to volunteer," Winer said.

In his e-mail, Ovitt said that the party would consider paying poll watchers in the future, if the program was successful.

"We hope to be successful with this program and if so, possibly making it a paid position in the future," Ovitt said.

Kane says the GOP didn't pay poll watchers during the 2002 elections and there are no plans to start payments for the 2004 election.

But, Kane said, some GOP volunteers who watched the walk-in absentee voter booths during the general election were given "stipends" to pay for lunches and transportation.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are dealing with a little-known facet of new power after winning the governor's race. According to state law, the precinct chairman for each polling place is selected by the party of the governor.

So for the first time in 40 years, the GOP is fielding the chairs for the polling places.

"Most of our people have experience working in the polls," Kane said. "So having the authority does gives you a little more comfort, but it is something we want to change in the next legislative session."

Republicans had criticized the law giving the power to control the polling places to one party. Kane said that the GOP will ask the legislature to change the law to make the precinct chair a nonpartisan position.

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