Posted at 5:37 p.m., Monday, October 7, 2002
High Court rejects bid to move up Mink election
Advertiser Staff
The Hawai'i Supreme Court today denied a request by the Cayetano administration to allow the state to hold a special election at the same time as the general election, to pick a temporary replacement for the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink.Anzai had asked the court to rule that the state elections officer has the discretion to move up the special election from Nov. 30 to Nov. 5, the same date as the general election.
Holding the two elections together would have saved the state an estimated $2 million, and would have filled Mink's 2nd District House seat in time for what may be a series of important budget and other votes in Congress in November.
Mink, 74, died Sept. 28 after developing viral pneumonia. Chief elections officer Dwayne Yoshina announced on Sept. 30 that a special election would be held Nov. 30 to select someone to serve out the last five weeks of Mink's unfinished term.
That schedule was dictated by state law, which requires elections officials to give 60 days notice before a special election to fill a vacancy in the U.S. House.
In the court filing last week, Anzai cited another passage in the same law that specifies that the special election "shall be conducted and the results ascertained so far as practicable, in accordance with this title."
That passage "suggests" Yoshina can decide for himself whether any of the election laws relating to special elections are "practicable," and if not, whether they must actually be followed, according to Anzai's filing.
However, the Supreme Court ruled today that the law clearly requires the 60 days notice, and that the phrase "so far as practicable" means the chief election officer "is deemed to have discretion to schedule the election more, but not less, than 60 days after issuance of the proclamation."
