Posted on: Friday, August 31, 2001

Hawai'i's voter turnout among worst

Associated Press

Fewer than half of Hawai'i's voting-age residents are deciding who gets to run the state and counties and represent the islands in Washington.

In fact, Hawai'i is shown trailing the nation in voter turnout in the 2000 presidential election, according to a national report released yesterday.

Chief Election Officer Dwayne Yoshina, however, said he thinks the Hawai'i figures are skewed by the relatively large number of aliens and military personnel in the islands.

"These people can't vote, but they are included in the federal figure for the voting-age population," he said.

Figures compiled by the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, a nonpartisan research group, said 40.5 percent of the voting age people in Hawai'i voted last year. Arizona was next lowest at 42.3 percent, followed by Texas, Nevada, Georgia and California.

The national average was 51.2 percent.

At the other end, Minnesota recorded the highest turnout with 68.8 percent, followed by Maine at 67.3 percent and Alaska at 66.4 percent.

Yoshina said if Hawai'i's turnout is based on the eligible voter population, the turnout increases to 48.5 percent in the 2000 election. He noted that 58.3 percent of Hawai'i's registered voters cast ballots.

Skewed or not, Yoshina said Hawai'i could do more to encourage a bigger voter turnout.

While the Office of Elections is charged with voter registration and voter education, Yoshina said it can do only so much with the amount of money it gets.

It's also a responsibility of the education system, the political parties and the candidates themselves to encourage people to vote, he said.

As for getting voters registered, "we've done as much as we can to make those services available," Yoshina said. "I think if you look at where Hawai'i is in making registration and voting accessible, we're up there with the best of them."

Using the Democratic Party's dominance in Hawai'i politics as a reason for voter apathy is too easy an excuse, he said, noting that the Republican Party's recent resurgence didn't appear to stimulate an increased voter turnout.

"I think if you give them a good message that reverberates and resonates in the community, they'll vote," Yoshina said.