Kouchi Announces Senate Committee Chairs, Leadership
2024 General Election Results --FOURTH READ
On 4th Read Pierick beats Rosenlee (again) GOP gains 1 State Senator and 3 State Representatives
CB: … Republican Rep. Elijah Pierick has taken a 20-vote lead over Democratic challenger Corey Rosenlee, according to late election returns released Wednesday night.
If the margin between the two stays under 24 votes, it’s likely headed to a recount under a new law passed by the Legislature this year. Lawmakers retooled the formula limiting recounts to only the closest of races.
Honolulu elections officials released updated results on Wednesday after processing 18,000 ballots deposited in drop boxes just before the 7 p.m. cut off on Election Day….
If Pierick snatches back a victory, it would bring the number of GOP controlled seats in the 51-member house to nine. That’s the most Republican seats in at least a decade.
Pierick currently leads Rosenlee 4,706 to 4,686.
The tight contest between Tom Cook and Kelly King for the South Maui council seat — just 117 votes separate them — is not going to a recount, according to state elections chief Scott Nago….
OVERALL RESULTS: 2024 General Election Results --FOURTH READ
PRECISELY AS EXPLAINED: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again in 2024
read … West Oahu House Race Looks Headed For A Recount - Honolulu Civil Beat
Star-Adv: Republican Gains Mean State can no Longer Ignore West Side Issues
SA: … While voters throughout Hawaii, overall, swung decisively toward Democratic candidates, there’s an indication of growing Republican loyalty among island voters. For both political parties, this could be an emerging trend to watch in solidly Democratic Hawaii — one that can’t be ignored, as witnessed on the national level with Donald Trump’s strong showing among diverse constituencies, including working-class and ethnic communities.
…statewide, while roughly 70% of the electorate went for Democratic candidates, a fairly consistent percentage of up to 30% voted Republican in contested races.
In the state Legislature, a third Republican has joined the Senate and three Republicans added to the House…
it verifies the surging strength of Republican voters on the Waianae Coast. Both DeCorte, who works for the state, and Muraoka, a business owner, are articulate, politically moderate advocates who speak passionately about the need for more emphasis on public safety and a broadened response to homelessness — and a need for change in the state’s responsiveness to West Side issues. …
read … Editorial: Shifting electorate signals discontent
‘Asinine, Lying’ Elections officials claim voting delays not predictable
HNN: … City Clerk Glen Takahashi said the Elections Division will look into what went wrong, but doubts the rush could have been predicted….
(REALITY: We predicted this in Feb -- Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again in 2024)
Takahashi says waits of up to six hours or more were unpredictable because of the weather and human factors like traditional voting habits, election suspicions, same-day registration and lack of awareness about early and mail-in voting options….
But others, such as Common Cause Hawaii’s Camron Hurt, say after similar lines four years ago, they should have been more prepared.
“If you look at Oahu, that it’s the most populous island in this state chain, however, there are only two places to vote in person on election day,” Hurt said. “That’s asinine, and anybody saying anything different is lying.”
Takahashi said just adding sites might not solve the problem.
“I think we have to be very careful about looking for the silver bullet to try to solve the that last issue, if you will, of getting crunched,” he said. “Because, you know, if we set up more sites, you’re only as good as the site that closes up last, right? And so, no matter what, we could still be faced with the same thing if another site that we opened just couldn’t push through the numbers that we want.”
(TRANSLATION: I want to make them wait. I’m not even bothering with a good excuse.)
On Hawaii News Now Sunrise, Gov. Josh Green said people should vote by mail, or early, and said he wasn’t concerned about having results delayed past midnight.
“It doesn’t really make any difference,” he said. “We either would have heard it at 7 or 8 p.m. or we heard in the middle of the night. The democracy was intact.”
(TRANSLATION: Green likes the long lines.)
Takahashi said they will have a post-election review and Council Chair Tommy Waters said the council will look into the election system’s challenges at a briefing in January.
(TRANSLATION: They plan a repeat for 2026.)
Nov 2024: Common Cause Hawaii: Voting by mail cannot replace in-person voting
Nov 2024: Rep. Jill Tokuda on voter wait times: ‘We did not meet the moment’
PRECISELY AS EXPLAINED: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again in 2024
read … Elections officials apologize for voting delays, but will changes be made?
Election Officials Make More Excuses for Long Lines
KHON: … On Tuesday, voters joined tens of thousands across the Hawaiian Islands who opted to vote in person, including more than 22,000 on Oahu, over 7,000 on Hawaii Island, nearly 6,000 across Maui County, and nearly 3,500 on Kauai. In total, nearly 40,000 people voted in person, with more than 15,000 casting their ballots on Election Day alone….
House Minority Leader Diamond Garcia expressed frustration with the long lines, saying, “A lot of people walked out of line because it was way too long, five, six-hour waits. That is ridiculous. It is unacceptable.”
When asked about solutions to reduce wait times for future elections, election officials acknowledged the challenges.
“We’re going to do an after-action review and take a look at all of our options,” said Glen Takahashi, Honolulu County clerk. “But you’re only as good as your site that is going the slowest. So even if we ran five sites, we could still have one that had to go until midnight, and we’d be in the same place.”
(IQ Test: Is that a reasonable answer?)
Maui County Clerk Moana Lutey added that more education might help voters better understand why waits are so long. “Is it a matter of more education, so people understand that this was not COVID-related? Because unfortunately, those seem to coincide,” she said.
(IQ Test: Is that a reasonable answer?)
Scott Nago, the state’s chief elections officer, noted that many delays stemmed from people updating their voter registration at the service centers rather than beforehand. “Voter education, letting people know that they should update their voter registration. If they’re going to register to vote, they should do it beforehand, before going to the voter service center rather than doing it there, because (that’s) a lot of what we saw with the taking up time.”
(IQ Test: Is that a reasonable answer?)
However, some voters, especially those who prefer in-person voting, bristled at the suggestion that the public needs to learn to vote differently.
“Allow me to educate you as an African American male whose ancestors fought, died, been tortured, bombed for the right to vote in person, so I don’t have to adjust to mail in voting,” said Camron Hurt, a voter rights advocate with Common Cause Hawaii. “I deserve to have as many options to vote as possible, and so do all my kama’aina residents here in the state.”
Lawmakers and voter rights advocates are calling for changes to improve the voting process. Garcia, who reintroduced a bill last year to expand the number of polling places, vowed to continue pushing for reform.
“We, the people, are not going to stand by and let this happen again,” Garcia said.
While the state’s transition to a vote-by-mail system was expected to save the state money, the cost of elections has actually risen. According to a recent review by Always Investigating, Hawaii’s elections have cost $1.5 million to $2 million more than originally projected, with savings of $750,000 a year not yet realized….
KITV: Political analyst explains the breakdown in Hawaii’s in-person voting logjam | News | kitv.com
KITV: What led to the long lines and slow downs on Election Day in Hawaii? | News | kitv.com
KITV: Long voting lines in Hawaii brought big turnout and big problems | Video | kitv.com
read … Surge of in-person voting leads to calls for change | KHON2
Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day—but GOP still gains 1 State Senator and 3 State Representatives
SA: … Although the number of people who continue to vote in person remains relatively small, Nago and Rex Quidilla, administrator for the Honolulu Office of Elections, had warned voters in advance to expect long lines on Election Day that would delay the release of election results, just as they had in the 2022 election after Trump instructed his supporters to ignore early and mail-in voting.
Sen. Brenton Awa (R, Kaneohe-Laie-Mokuleia) won reelection and was the last person in Hawaii to vote after standing in line for five hours at Kapolei Hale, Nago said.
State Rep. Diamond Garcia (D, Ewa-Kapolei) had voted in person before Election Day but joined Awa in line for about an hour to keep him company, Garcia said.
According to Garcia, who also won reelection, “95%” of the voters who waited in line “were Republicans.”
He and Tamara McKay, Hawaii Republican Party chair, said they hope that Wednesday’s final tally of the last remaining 18,000 votes still being counted Wednesday would tighten four close House races enough to trigger automatic recounts that could lead to four additional Republican victories.
For instance, (after counting the election day ballots) incumbent House Republican Elijah Pierick (R, Royal Kunia- Waipahu-Honouliuli) lost to (beat) Democratic challenger Corey Rosenlee to represent District 39 by just 71 20 votes — 4,476 for Rosenlee and 4,405 for Pierick 4,706 for Pierick and 4,686 for Rosenlee.
But recounts can only be triggered when the vote difference is less than “100 votes or one-quarter of 1%, whichever is lesser,” Nago said.
He acknowledged that the last ballots could lead to recounts.
“It’s possible,” he said.
If Rosenlee ends up winning, Republicans would lose one of their six minority members in the 51-member House, with half of them representing increasingly conservative West Oahu, including Pierick, Garcia and Rep. David Alcos III (R, Ocean Pointe-Barbers Point), who also won reelection.
But McKay and Garcia said they hope that the final ballots end up benefiting Pierick and other Republican candidates, which theoretically could increase the size of their House minority caucus to a total of nine ….
PRECISELY AS EXPLAINED: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again in 2024
read … Lines of mostly Republicans delay vote tally
Legislators to Name Nakamura House Speaker
CB: … Nadine Nakamura is expected to be selected as part of a leadership reorganization Thursday. Lawmakers must vote to make it official when the next session begins….
State Rep. Sean Quinlan is expected to replace Nakamura as the House Democratic majority leader, and Rep. Linda Ichiyama is to become the new House vice speaker. Ichiyama would replace Rep. Greggor Ilagan of Puna in that largely ceremonial job….
leadership of at least three key House committees has also been unofficially decided, according to insiders.
House Finance Committee Chairman Kyle Yamashita and House Judiciary Chairman David Tarnas are expected to remain where they are, and Rep. Scot Matayoshi will likely take over as the next House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee chairman.
The consumer protection position became vacant with the death of the former Chairman Mark Nakashima, 61, in July….
MEANWHILE: Reelected state Sen. Brenton Awa slated to become minority leader “Awa will be the minority leader and DeCorte will be the minority floor leader. They are determining another leadership position for Fevella.”
read … Legislators To Name 1st Female House Speaker In Hawaii History - Honolulu Civil Beat
Thousands oppose $1.5M proposed settlement of HPD deadly shooting lawsuit
HNN: … Nearly 2,300 Hawaii residents do not want the city to pay $1.5 million to settle a deadly HPD shooting lawsuit.
They’ve signed an online petition supporting officers who shot and killed Rugby star Lindani Myeni in 2021.
Officers confronted the 25-year-old after calls of burglary when Myeni entered a home in Nuuanu and began acting erratically.
Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm declined to prosecute the officers, saying the shooting was justified….
read … Thousands oppose $1.5M proposed settlement of HPD deadly shooting lawsuit
Entitled: ‘Progressives’ whine about ‘uninformed voters’ after losing Maui Council Races
KITV: … "I think that money buys elections and I think we have to be better-informed voters," Ann Pitchaithley of the Maui Pono Network said. …
Funding for two candidates stuck out to the organization—incumbents Tom Cook of South Maui and Tasha Kama who covers Kahului.
"Contributions in the past came from human beings, now they're coming from outside of Maui, corporations, super PACs, luxury developers, real estate investors. It's very alarming because it doesn't benefit Maui," Pitcaithley argued.…
KHON: ʻMost interesting race is South Maui, pro-development wonʻ | KHON2 “To me, the most interesting race, is South Maui. That is the race for the control of the city council and pro-development won that one. Cook won it, and so that will significantly affect how we approach developing or redeveloping rather Lahaina.”
Meet the Humans: Meet the Meth Gang Behind ‘Lahaina Strong’
read … Grassroots group raises concerns over funding for some Maui County Council candidates
Lahaina Fires: Judge Cahill Comes up with new trick to Screw Insurers
CB: … Insurance companies have a month to make public lists of every insurance claim related to the wildfire that killed 102 people on Maui and destroyed much of Lahaina, including the amount of each claim, the amount actually paid out and the rationale for the payment.
Maui Circuit Court Judge Peter Cahill acknowledged the task is a “heavy lift.” But Cahill said he needs the information filed in court by Dec. 2 “to evaluate the best means and method to manage each case, individual claims, and trials (screw the insurers).”…
But the insurance industry is pushing back. On Wednesday, industry lawyers asked for a conference with the judge to discuss numerous issues, including the legal basis of Cahill’s order. The industry also wants to discuss the need for a protective order to prevent confidential information from being made public. …
The companies have paid out more than 10,033 wildfire claims totaling more than $2.34 billion to fire victims, according to the latest available data from the Hawaii insurance division. The insurers want to sue those responsible for starting the fire and enabling it to spread to recoup the money paid out to the victims – a standard procedure called subrogation. …
Whether the insurers have subrogation rights in this case is murky enough that Cahill punted the issue to the Supreme Court to sort out.
On Monday lawyers for both sides filed opening briefs exploring the intricacies of Hawaii laws governing subrogation and the extent to which victims have the right to be made whole before insurers can step in to get paid….
Settlement Depends On Limiting Insurers’ Rights…
The insurance industry lawyers argue that the settling parties have every right to settle – but not to limit the ability of the insurers to sue.
Among other things, the industry lawyers’ 51-page brief points to a 2017 Hawaii Supreme Court decision that says, “In the context of fire and casualty insurance … the insurer may maintain a subrogation action against the tortfeasor regardless of outside settlement.”
The insurance industry’s brief goes on to outline the history of subrogation rights in Hawaii dating back to 1885, when the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaii held that “King Kamehemeha IV’s Minister of Finance was entitled to amounts paid to satisfy the debts of another.”
The law of the kingdom established that a settlement didn’t extinguish subrogation rights, industry lawyers Vincent Raboteau, Adam Romney and Mark Grotefeld wrote.
“In the earliest reported subrogation case in Hawaiʻi, the highest court in the Kingdom understood that subrogation rights survive even after the injured party’s original claim has been fully resolved,” they wrote.
The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision in early 2025….
(Case# SCRQ-24-0000602 - In the Matter of Pet for Coord of Maui Fire Cases)
PDF: Cahill-insurance-order
read … Judge: All Maui Wildfire Insurance Claims Must Be Made Public
Major Chinatown blackouts lead to partial claims payments for businesses
KHON: … Partial reimbursements from Hawaiian Electric are coming to Downtown and Chinatown businesses after two major power outages in June, one of which lasted several days.
The utility company will only pay for some losses.
Hawaiian Electric will pay up to 50% of claims for inventory and equipment that was lost due to major power outages earlier in 2024 in Honolulu — the second major outage lasted from Monday, June 17 to Thursday, June 21 — but they are not admitting guilt or liability for the blackout….
read … Major Chinatown blackouts lead to partial claims payments for businesses
Council mulls veto override for fireworks bill
SA: … The Council meets at 10 a.m. in the City Council’s Chambers….
By city law, the Council’s possible veto override of Bill 22 requires its reconsideration to be passed by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the entire membership of the Council — or six of the nine members.
If successful, “the bill shall then become an ordinance with like effect as if it had been signed by the mayor. If the bill fails to receive the vote of at least two-thirds of the entire membership of the council, it shall be deemed finally lost,” Honolulu’s City Charter states.
The Council action is something that’s not occurred at Honolulu Hale since the summer of 2020….
SA: Column: Dangerous aerials, not consumer fireworks, are the problem | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Council mulls veto override for fireworks bill
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