35 neighborhood board seats unfilled on O'ahu
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Low voter turnout and a lack of candidates left nearly half of O'ahu's neighborhood boards short of members and gave one board barely enough members for a quorum, the latest election results show.
The Ala Moana/Kaka'ako Neighborhood Board seats nine members when filled, but several members decided not to seek re-election this year and not enough people signed up to replace them.
That leaves only five seats filled. If even one member is absent from a meeting, the board cannot legally vote on anything.
"There were not so many applications to run because people feel the board members were doing a good job," said John Hurst, who was just elected to his fourth two-year term in results announced last week. "It's a matter of 'you're doing your job, do it again.' No one is opposing you because you are fine."
A total of 531 people filed for 444 seats on O'ahu's 32 neighborhood boards. Elections are held every two years, and the new members' terms run from June 1 to May 31, 2005. The board's role is advisory only and members are volunteers.
Fifteen boards are short of members — 35 in all. The Ala Moana board has the most critical shortage, followed by McCully/Mo'ili'ili which is short five of 17 members, Liliha/Pu'unui/'Alewa/Kamehameha Heights short four of 13 seats and Kalihi-Palama, which is short five of its 19 members.
Hurst said the Ala Moana area has not usually had a problem getting members to participate and the community is very active. Hurst said all the new and returning members are trying to recruit people to fill out the board.
"I think at our first meeting we will fill those seats," Hurst said.
Sixty-one uncontested races this year meant only 190,000 ballots were mailed to voters in mid-March and only about 50,000 were returned. The fewer ballot numbers resulted in a savings of about $41,000 to the city. The election cost about $160,000.
Elwin Spray, elections assistant with the Neighborhood Commission office, said normally about one-third of all voters return their ballots, but only 27 percent did this year. Kailua and Mililani had the lowest turnout, with about 25 percent returned.
Spray said with so many elections since September, including the statewide primary, the general election and the two congressional special elections, people are "electioned out."
"Getting the message out this year was tough," Spray said. "Our message got lost."
Spray said the Neighborhood Commission purposely schedules candidate registration during a relatively slow political period, between Christmas and the Superbowl, hoping to interest more candidates, but this year had the lowest number of candidates since 1998.
Spray said board service is also cyclical as people's lives change.
"People have babies, change jobs, go back to school," Spray said. "As your lifestyle changes, oftentimes the community commitment takes a different venue. Their kids grow up or whatever."
Spray said people generally serve three or four terms on a board on average.
In areas where voter turnout was low, the Neighborhood Commission may advise the boards to reach out more to the community to generate interest.
Reach James Gonser at 535-2431 or at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com.
