Editorials

[ OUR OPINION ]

Voters remain deprived
of ballot strength

THE ISSUE A Senate committee has killed a measure to stop blank ballots from being counted in constitutional ratification votes.

THE state Supreme Court made it difficult six years ago to amend the state Constitution by ruling that voters who decline to cast ballots on a proposed amendment be counted as opposed to the amendment. Unfortunately, a state Senate committee has killed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed voters to require that only "yes" and "no" votes be counted. The committee's action limits the power of voters and retains authority in the Legislature.

Legislature Directory Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes

The high court's ruling followed a close vote in 1996 on whether to have a constitutional convention. Advocates of a convention outnumbered opponents by a vote of 163,869 to 160,153. Then-Attorney General Margery Bronster concluded that the voters had authorized a Con Con. However, 45,245 ballots were left blank on the question of a constitutional convention, and the Supreme Court ruled several months later that those non-votes counted against a convention. It was defeated.

The state Constitution says that a constitutional convention should be held "if a majority of ballots cast upon such a question" favored it; the same method applies to constitutional amendments put before voters. In other words, a majority of voters who pick up ballots in an election must vote for a Con Con or constitutional amendment -- not a majority of those voting on that particular issue -- for it to be approved.

The Hawaii State AFL-CIO challenged what Bronster regarded as a victory for proponents of a Con Con, because unions were afraid that a convention would trim their members' benefits. Others were concerned that a convention would focus on emotional issues such as same-sex marriage, gambling and Hawaiian sovereignty. The Star-Bulletin recommended a "no" vote, maintaining that it would be premature at that time to hold the convention while the Hawaiian community was still seeking a consensus on the sovereignty issue.

Unlike California and a number of other states, Hawaii does not allow initiatives on the ballot. That has shielded Hawaii from some of the election-day craziness resulting in capricious and unwise laws in those states. Instead, Hawaii leans heavily toward representative government, with voters relying on their elected legislators to use their own judgments in determining the best interest of the community.

Maintaining nonsensical roadblocks against proposed constitutional questions goes too far. Counting voters who choose not to vote on a particular constitutional amendment as being opposed to it makes no more sense that counting the eligible voters who stayed at home. Legislators who favor causing extra difficulty for citizens to ratify a constitutional amendment or to authorize a Con Con essentially are protecting the status quo from popular sentiment for change.

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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.

Don Kendall, Publisher

Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, Assistant Editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.com

Mary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4748; mpoole@starbulletin.com

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