Posted on 12/01/2022 5:20:16 PM PST by nickcarraway
Plaintiffs say county did not properly notify hundreds of voters about ballot issues
A candidate and 30 voters have filed a complaint with the Hawaii Supreme Court asking that the results of the Maui County Council’s Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu residency seat race be voided and a new election be held over alleged violations of duties and state law by the county clerk, including improperly notifying those with deficient return envelopes.
On Friday, council candidate Noelani Ahia and 30 Maui County voters filed the complaint involving the race between first-time candidate Ahia and current Maui County Council Chairwoman Alice Lee, who reclaimed her residency seat by 513 votes, with 22,733 votes, or 43.3 percent, to Ahia’s 22,220 votes, or 42.3 percent, according to results as of Nov. 21.
Defendants named in the complaint are Lee, County Clerk Kathy Kaohu and state Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago.
“Defendant’s errors, mistakes, and mishandling in failing to reasonably notify 812 voters of their allegedly-deficient ballots changed the outcome of the Wailuku election or makes it impossible to ascertain the correct results of the election,” the complaint says.
The plaintiffs said in a news release that on Election Day, more than 800 mailed-in ballots were “deficient,” roughly in line with the estimate of about 900 ballots that Kaohu told The Maui News were deficient in the days after the election.
Usually voters are given five business days after the election to “cure” deficiencies, but the county clerk did not mail out notices to the affected voters until four days after Election Day, the plaintiffs claim. Usually before Election Day and before partial results of the elections are available, the county clerk would notify voters within one or two days of the deficiency determination, they added.
The news release adds that Lee is the immediate supervisor for Kaohu.
Kaohu could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. The state Office of Elections said Monday afternoon it does not comment on pending litigation.
Ahia, described as the lead plaintiff in the news release said: “We must do everything possible to protect the right to vote and ensure that every vote is counted. We need to ensure confidence in our election system especially for all the first time voters.”
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Lance Collins and Bianca Isaki.
“As Hawaii moves from in-person voting to mail-in voting, it is vitally important that all election officials act with earnest diligence in ensuring that every lawfully cast ballot is counted,” Collins said in the news release.
He confirmed on Monday that the defendants have 10 days, or until Dec. 5, to respond.
Lee said Monday that corporation counsel is handling the case and will request a dismissal of the matter.
“To my knowledge, our staff did everything they’re supposed to do according to law,” Lee said.
Lee added that she does not get involved with day-to-day processes by the county clerk, “especially elections.”
She said that she and other candidates “avoid the election center and office and processes, like the plague, because we know better.”
Uncured ballots are part of every election and “this is not a new occurrence,” Lee added.
“Our staff routinely follows the law,” she said.
In declarations, Ahia said that on Nov. 14 she orally requested a copy of the list of voters whose ballots had not been counted because their return identification envelopes had been deemed deficient.
She said the “County Clerk denied my requests citing ‘confidentiality.’ “
Ahia said she re-submitted her request in writing on a Post-it.
“The County Clerk then denied my request for the list of voters on the grounds that the information was not public but between the voters on the list and her office and refused to permit inspection and copying,” Ahia said in her declaration.
“It was my intention to contact every voter on the list to make sure they were aware of the problem and to relay the instructions on how to cure their return identification envelopes,” she added. “I also had several volunteers who were willing to assist me in obtaining publicly available contact information and in making those calls.”
Six of the 30 voters who filed the claim also submitted declarations, including two who spoke about receiving a form letter from the county clerk about their deficient return identification envelope and how to cure it.
One person said he received the letter a day before the deadline, while another person said he received the letter from the county on Nov. 21, days after the Nov. 16 deadline to cure ballots.
I just skimmed it, but didn’t see any party affiliations mentioned.
Hmmm.. Election Fraud in a blue state?
Hawaii = all democrats
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.