Tribe? Hawaii’s ‘Other’ State Elections Include Prisoners and Lots of Dead People

by Andrew Walden

The State of Hawaii is currently organizing four elections—not just the August 9 Primary and the November 4 General Election. 

Unlike the Primary and General elections, there no rules for election of delegates to an “’Aha” and the subsequent referendum to approve “organic governing documents” for a fake Hawaiian Tribe. 

One thing is certain according to OHA’s July 15, 2014 testimony to the US Department of the Interior:  The “organic governing documents” don’t need to be approved by a majority vote. 

The Kanaiolowalu Roll Commission says the Roll is “akin to a voter registration list….”  But this voter registration list obviously violates Rice v Cayetano--and Article II, Section 1 of the Hawaii State Constitution--by excluding all non-Hawaiians.  It also manages to exclude about 3/4 of Native Hawaiians.  The 125,000 registrants claimed by the Roll Commission include incarcerated felons, nearly 20% minors, nearly 20% out-of state residents, and lots of dead people—in clear violation of Article II, Section 2 of the State Constitution. 

The campaign season starts August 1 according a diagram on page 6 of OHA’s DoI testimony. 

How will candidates register to be on the ballot?  Who will register the candidates, publish candidate lists and the ballots, train and supervise election work, open the polling places, and count the votes?   What are the candidates campaigning for?  Presumably they are seeking election as Delegates to the ‘Aha—but what are the representative districts?  How many delegates will be elected per district?  What is the basis of apportionment?  What are the qualifications for office?  What are the responsibilities of delegates?  When will the ‘Aha be held?

With just days to the supposed launch of campaigning, there are no answers to any of these questions.

Act 195 of 2011, which created the Kanaiolowalu Roll, provides no specifics.

This is enough to make Hawaii Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago blush, but he’s not overseeing this fiasco—in spite of Article IV, Section 3 which states that responsibilities of the Chief Election Officer “shall include the supervision of state elections … and the maintenance of data concerning registered voters, elections, apportionment, and districting.”

The few answers the State of Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs is giving to the Feds should be alarming. 

Civil Rights?  Not in the OHA Tribe.  OHA’s testimony (pg 10) explicitly rejects: “a Native Hawaiian constitution that safeguards the civil rights and liberties of Natives and non-natives alike, as guaranteed in the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968.” 

Majority rule?  Even after stacking the deck with incarcerated felons and dead people, OHA repeatedly informs the DoI that it plans ratification of the “organic governing documents” by “a plurality vote.”

State approval?   OHA wants an end-run around the legislature and governor, telling the DoI: “formal acknowledgement by the State of Hawaii should not be a condition for federal acknowledgement of a reorganized Native Hawaiian Government.”

With a straight face, OHA tells the Feds: “There is no place for direct facilitation by the State of Hawaii.” 

What part of the State of Hawaii is OHA not?

What part of the State of Hawaii is the Kanaiolowalu Roll Commission not?

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OHA BoT Minutes Feb, 2013 Prisoner sign ups: see pg 19

Kanaiolowalu Roll Commission: June 20, 2014 News Release

LINK: OHA Roll Full of Dead People