State Representative Candidate Threatened with Arrest By Covid-19 Quarantine Order Prevented From Returning to Hawaii 

News release from Friends of Lori Ford, Aug 18, 2020

Newport Beach, Calif.  -- Candidate for Hawaii's State House of Representatives District 18, Lori Ford (R-Aina Haina) and her attorney Bilal Essayli held a press conference Tuesday to discuss how she was made a "political refugee" by Governor Ige's quarantine order.

Ford traveled to Honolulu in June to pull papers to run for office, but could not participate in a 14-day quarantine without missing the deadline to run. Ford was later contacted by a special agent with the Hawaii Attorney General's office and was requested to fly back to Hawaii so she could be arrested. 

"I am being threatened with arrest and a 'walk of shame' for violating quarantine when I filed my candidate papers to run for public office. I am NOT a threat to society," Ford said. "I have been apart from my children for 28 days due to the threat of arrest."

Violation of the quarantine order is a misdemeanor, which rarely results in an arrest, but despite this, the Attorney General's office insisted to Essayli that they intend to arrest Ford.

“It is shocking that while the State of Hawaii is presently releasing inmates into the community, the Attorney General’s Office would insist on arresting and hauling Ms. Ford to jail. Ms. Ford has no criminal history and does not represent a threat to the community," Essayli said. "The Governor’s quarantine order as applied to Ms. Ford is unconstitutional. The state should have made an exception in enforcement for individuals exercising critical civil rights, such as pulling papers to run for office.”

Ford earned more votes than any other Republican candidate challenging an incumbent for a state house seat in Hawaii in the Aug. 8, 2020 primary election. 

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AP: State denies threatening candidate with quarantine arrest (sort of)

AP: Hawaii AG denies threatening candidate with quarantine arrest