Green Party sues State over ballot shortage

AP: Two dozen Oahu polling places ran out of paper ballots during the Nov. 6 general election. In a lawsuit filed Friday, the Green Party is asking a judge to strike down the methodology used to determine the number of ballots that are to be printed in federal and state elections.

The lawsuit also seeks to have the process by which precincts ask for and receive additional ballots invalidated, along with the procedure to address situations where voters vote incorrect ballots. The lawsuit claims the methodology and rules that were adopted and used did not comply with proper rulemaking.

FULL TEXT: LAWSUIT

·       Nov 27: Election 'Fiasco': Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Threatened

·       CB: Green Party Sues Hawaii Elections Chief Over Ballot Shortages

·       VIDEO: Attorney Lance Collins on lawsuit against Hawaii elections

·       The Wong and The Short of It: A Precinct Tale Hawai'i Public Radio (12 Nov 12)

·       State Elections Official Say Poor Planning Led to Shortage of Paper Ballots on Oahu The Republic (7 Nov 12)

·       Green Party: Paper Ballot Issues Derailed Bonk Victory Civil Beat (7 Nov 12)

read … Green Party

Green Party Election Lawsuit Modeled after Successful 2008 Suit

DN: Attorney Lance Collins filed a successful lawsuit against the Office of Elections in 2008 that resulted in an injunction against the 2010 election by a state judge. The complaint was similar: a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

The earlier suit (Babson v. Cronin, Civ No. 2cc08-1-000378 ) was brought on behalf of five citizens of Maui against Hawaii’s Chief Elections Officer  at the time (see background on Disappeared News in these articles). The suit challenged three aspects of the voting process, according to attorney Collins:

1. The use of electronic voting machines was not adopted through lawful rulemaking in accordance with the Hawaii Administrative Procedure Act (HAPA).

2. The use of the Internet and/or telephone lines to transmit vote counts was not adopted through lawful rulemaking (HAPA).

3. The use of the Internet and/or telephone lines to transmit vote counts was not allowed under current state law.

The fear was that the system put together by the Office of Elections could be subject to so-called “man in the middle” attacks that could change the vote count without anyone being aware of the tampering.

As a result of the suit, the Office of Elections was forced to deal with the creation of new Administrative Rules, a process which includes public notice and public hearings.

Related: Full Text: Green Party Sues Nago Over Botched Election

read … Hawaii Office of Elections faces second lawsuit over failure to follow Administrative Procedures Act