Miske Lawyer Behind Campaign to Unseat OHA Trustee Keli’i Akina
Two Tax Bills This Year
Attorney: Homeless Disenfranchised by all-mail voting system
85 MPH Hurricane Douglas Hits North Shore Maui
COVID Count 64 new cases--4th day in a row over 50
Rick Blangiardi, Mafia Hanabusa lead Honolulu mayoral field, poll finds
SA: … Businessman Rick Blangiardi and former U.S. Rep. (mafia candidate) Colleen Hanabusa would appear to be the most likely survivors of the Aug. 8 primary election to advance to the head-to-head contest for Honolulu mayor in November, according to the results of the Honolulu Star- Advertiser Hawaii Poll.
Blangiardi and Hanabusa are running neck-and-neck atop the poll, with former insurance executive Keith Amemiya, former Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Honolulu City Councilwoman Kym Pine clustered in a second grouping.
But with 20% of those polled indicating they are undecided on the mayor’s race, and a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, the numbers suggest all five of the major candidates still have a legitimate shot at moving on in Hawaii’s first all-mail-in ballot election….
(Mafia) Hanabusa fared best among voters who identified themselves as Democrats, with support from 27% of those polled….
Blangiardi, who’s receiving a rare endorsement from former GOP Gov. Linda Lingle, was the choice of 33% of those identifying as Republicans…
Blangiardi also finished No. 1 among those identifying as independents, with 25% planning to vote for him. But an eye-opening 28% of independents are undecided….
(Strategy: Vote for Pine in hope of knocking Hanabusa out of runoff.)
PDF: Poll Results
Reality: www.TheRealHanabusa.com
read … Blangiardi, Hanabusa lead Honolulu mayoral field, poll finds
Steve Alm out front in Honolulu prosecutor race, poll finds
SA: … Steve Alm, a former U.S. Attorney and Circuit Court judge, is the preferred choice to be Honolulu’s next prosecutor, with support from 24% of registered voters participating in the Honolulu Star- Advertiser Hawaii Poll.
Alm was followed by (soft on crime) Deputy Public Defender Jacquie Esser, whose campaign commercials demand fair treatment in the criminal justice system; and former Deputy Prosecutor Megan Kau, who worked in the Career Criminal Division of the Prosecutor’s Office where she tried violent cases including murder and sex assaults.
Both (soft on crime) Esser and Kau — who represent opposite sides of the criminal justice system — attracted an identical 17% of registered voters’ preference in the poll….
Acting Prosecutor Dwight Nadamoto generated support from only 2% of respondents….
(Strategy: Vote for Kau in hope of knocking Esser out of runoff.)
PDF: Poll Results
read … Steve Alm out front in Honolulu prosecutor race, poll finds
Gov. David Ige, Mayor Kirk Caldwell beat Trump in handling pandemic, poll finds
SA: … While nearly 70% of Honolulu residents disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, they mostly approve of the job by state and county officials.
Among the county residents surveyed, 51% approved of the way Gov. David Ige and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell are handling the situation, while Lt. Gov. Josh Green received a 76% approval rating for the job he’s doing, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Hawaii Poll conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy. Overall, Trump received a 67% disapproval rating….
Shapiro: Local leaders take ‘Hokey Pokey’ path to COVID control
PDF: Coronavirus poll
read … Gov. David Ige, Mayor Kirk Caldwell beat Trump in handling pandemic, poll finds
Report: Hawaii Isn’t Collecting And Sharing Enough Data On COVID-19
CB: … Prevent Epidemics studied the public data dashboards of all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico and found that every state is basically doing its own thing in terms of what data it publishes, how it is presented and what platform is used. That kind of variance leads to data that is “inconsistent, incomplete and inaccessible in most locations,” the report says.
The report did not think Hawaii’s data was impressive at all. The review found that Hawaii was only publishing about 13% of the information researchers thought the state should be publishing.
The Hawaii Data Collaborative, a nonprofit data research organization here, writes in a review of the report that it shows Hawaii is not reporting some critical data points, including COVID-19-like illness trends and average testing turnaround times, which “represents a serious gap in the information we as a community have available to us to understand.”…
PDF: Full Report
read … Report: Hawaii Isn’t Collecting And Sharing Enough Data On COVID-19
Chamber of Commerce Hawaii to hold rally to save small businesses
PBN: … The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, which has been working to help Hawaii’s small businesses struggling with the Covid-19 shutdowns, plans to hold a rally for businesses at the state Capitol on the date the state was originally supposed to reopen tourism….
The rally is scheduled for Aug. 1, the original date that tourists with a negative Covid test prior to arrival would be allowed to enter the state without undergoing a mandated two-week quarantine. Gov. David Ige earlier this month moved that date to Sept. 1….
The Chamber of Commerce will require rally attendees to wear face masks and practice physical distancing.
“The rally is being held to send the stabilization funding and proactive, long-term efforts messages to our state government, but also to encourage the people of Hawaii to support our local businesses and help them survive and protect their workers,” Menor-McNamara said. “We ask everyone to continue to think local whenever possible and keep Hawaii income in our state.”
In June, the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii had teamed up with chambers of commerce on three Neighbor Islands to send a petition to Ige urging him to take action to save small businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a recent survey fielded in partnership with University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, 24% of Hawaii businesses reported that they will permanently close, even after receiving PPP relief, and 40% of businesses responded that they would not reopen until tourism returns. UHERO and the chambers are conducting a follow-up survey this month.
“That is a devastating picture and one that will impact everyone in our state,” Menor-McNamara said.
read … Chamber of Commerce Hawaii to hold rally to save small businesses
Honolulu opens ballot dropoffs early, neighbor islands protest
HTH: … Voters on Oahu have greater access to the polls than those on the neighbor islands, as the City and County of Honolulu has already opened its ballot dropoff boxes to the public while neighbor island counties are using the Aug. 3 date set in state law.
The drop-off boxes — called “places of deposit” in the law — have become critical as some voters have had their mailed ballots returned to them because of errors at the post office, leading some to choose an alternative route. Hawaii Island, larger geographically than all the other islands combined, has just two voter service centers to accommodate voters unable to vote by mail.
Because statewide candidates and a race for an open congressional seat are on the primary ballot, equal access to the polls is especially important. With Honolulu’s drop boxes available longer, it could give Oahu a louder voice in races affecting all the islands.
The ballot includes four of the nine trustee seats for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, as well as candidates in various political parties for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
“(Chief Elections Officer) Scott Nago needs to say we have to open the drop boxes early or not. Everybody should be on the same page,” said Susan Irvine, who’s on the board for the League of Women Voters-Hawaii County chapter. “It needs to be fair and it’s not right now. … We should have equal access and we don’t.”
In an all-mail election, allowing greater access to ballot dropoffs on one island could be compared to allowing one island to have its polling places open longer in a more conventional walk-in election, Irvine said.
This is the state’s first attempt at an all-mail election, and glitches are to be expected. Ballots sent out a week earlier than originally planned, completed ballots returned to voters by post office systems reading the return address as the destination address and voters complaining they didn’t get a ballot at all have contributed to the uncertainty….
read … Honolulu opens ballot dropoffs early, neighbor islands protest
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