EDITORIAL
Mink's replacement now up to voters

While we share Gov. Ben Cayetano's concerns about the burdensome cost of a potential string of special elections, the state Supreme Court's decision yesterday that may eliminate that possibility will probably be for the best.

The court denied the state's petition to have the court order Mink's name replaced on the ballot with that of another Democrat. Elections officials still could allow a replacement on their own, the court said, but chief elections officer Dwayne Yoshina has said the deadline for such a move has passed. Unless he changes his mind, that's the end of it.

Clearly, a change of heart by the elections office at this point would save a considerable amount of money and effort. But the reason the current situation is probably for the best is that the entire situation has become so politicized and that voters are turning off on the entire process.

Now, at any rate, all decisions will be in the hands of the voters, not party insiders.

If Republican Bob McDermott or one of the minor-party candidates wins the election, that's the end of the story. If Mink wins posthumously, then the state will be forced to go through another election to fill her now-vacant seat. Voters will have a reasonable amount of time to sort out the candidates and make up their mind.

There has been enough politics played with this sad incident already. Republicans first complained that Mink's name wasn't replaced with a viable candidate and then complained that the Cayetano administration sought precisely that. Some Democrats didn't like the idea of a replacement name because they knew that would simply fuel conspiracy theories.

Enough already. We continue to believe there is a good argument that there's little real need for a special election to fill out the remaining few weeks of Mink's current term, given that the winter recess will come right in the middle of that period. But that train appears to have left the station.

After that, let the game play out. The next step is the Nov. 5 general election. If Mrs. Mink should happen to win that one, we move on to phase two.

And that, as the phrase goes, will truly be a winner-take-all.