103,000 trimmed State and county elections officials have removed more than 100,000 names from the list of registered isle voters, a move that they say will more accurately reflect Hawaii's notoriously low voter turnout.
from isle voter rolls
Officials say the move will more
By county
accurately reflect voter turnoutBy Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.comThe purge of 103,792 names of people who have not voted in the last two elections reduces the number of registered voters in Hawaii to 591,507 from 676,242 at the general election in November.
"Come 2004, our turnout figures are going to be more accurate," said Honolulu city clerk Genny Wong. "You don't have any deadwood."
Using the updated figures, the turnout for the 2002 general election would have been about 65 percent, rather than the official figure of 57 percent.
In the 2000 general election, Hawaii had the lowest voter turnout in the country, with 44 percent of eligible voters actually showing up at the polls.
Prior to the passage of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, the state and counties removed all the names of people on voter registration lists who did not vote in an election year. Those people were required to re-register if they wanted to vote in the next election.
But the 1993 act made it illegal for states to drop someone from the voter rolls just for not voting.
"A properly maintained voter roll adds to the integrity of the elections process," said Kauai county clerk Peter Nakamura in a news release. "Voter rolls nationwide have inflated since the federal law took effect because people must be kept on the rolls longer. However, we will now see a better picture of Hawaii's participation rates."
Wong said since 1993, the counties and the state have been struggling to come up with the proper procedures to remove names from voter registration lists.
Since 1992, Wong said the counties have only been removing the names of voters who have died, have voluntarily canceled their registration or who have registered to vote in another jurisdiction. Before the 2002 election, about 15,600 names were removed statewide, she said.
She said if the yellow voter registration card sent to all voters was returned to the county in 2002, a second mailing was sent asking for a forwarding address. If that mailing also came back with no forwarding address, the voter was kept on a "fail-safe" list in case they showed up on election day, when they had one last chance to register with a correct address.
Those people who had no forwarding address and who did not vote in the 2002 and 2000 primary or general elections were removed this year, Wong said.
She said her office has about 20,000 names of people on Oahu with no forwarding address who will be removed in 2005 if they do not register with their correct address and do not vote in the 2004 election.
Wong said people who have not voted but whose address is still correct are not removed from voter lists.
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The number of names being removed from voter registration lists by county: Cleaning slate
Honolulu: 75,189
Big Island: 12,401
Maui: 11,595
Kauai: 4,607
Total: 103,792
State Office of Elections
