HONOLULU CITY COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY OPPOSES STATE LEGISLATURE’S PROPOSAL FOR INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING

News Release from Councilmember Tom Berg

Honolulu, Hawaii – Today, the Honolulu City Council unanimously adopted Resolution 11-116 which urges the Hawaii State Legislature to defer action on House Bill No. 638, HD1 SD1 which would force the City & County of Honolulu along with the County of Hawaii to implement a new type of voting procedure during special elections called ‘instant runoff voting’ or ‘ranked choice voting’ which requires voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than merely selecting one candidate to vote for.

Honolulu City Councilman Tom Berg, who was elected on 29 December 2010 in a special election to fill a vacancy on the council, describes the sudden push for ranked choice voting this way: “It’s a huge infringement on the long established concept of home rule and an assault on our democratic form of government in clear violation of the Constitutional principle of one man-one vote. It’s also an unfunded, discriminatory mandate on just two of our four counties during a time of scarce resources.  And it’s obviously a partisan, vendetta-flavored overreaction to the elections of Charles Djou to Congress and Tom Berg to the City Council, both of which occurred during special elections.”

Berg continued: “It’s a non-reform masquerading as a reform. Bill 638 will destroy our democratic form of representative government by further suppressing the two party system and perpetuating a one party stranglehold on Hawaii. Minority representation will be harder to achieve. And if anything has been proven in recent months, it’s that Democrats alone cannot run Hawaii properly.”

The State House bill, introduced by Berg’s former opponent for State House, Rep. Rida Cabanilla, is scheduled to be considered by a conference committee tomorrow morning at 10:30am at the State Capitol in conference room 325.

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OFFICIAL CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION: http://www4.honolulu.gov/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-111420/11-116.doc

OFFICIAL STATE LEGISLATURE BILL: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/Bills/HB638_SD1_.HTM

CB: Honolulu City Council: No Instant Runoff Voting

HR: Council Opposes Instant Runoff Voting