Our county and state elections offices have a twofold mission. Mission one is to run an honest and transparent election. Mission two is to make sure the election process is fully open to voters and candidates.

The missions don't mesh perfectly. For example, a citizen's bill passed by the Legislature this last session permits voters to permanently vote absentee without reapplying for an absentee ballot every election cycle. Hailed by the elderly and disabled as a reduction in voting barriers, it was vetoed by the governor, who had concerns about voter fraud. In the act of enfranchising voters, she believed there might be increased risk of exploitation. The Legislature overrode the governor and the bill became law.

With respect to enfranchising candidates, courts across the country have ruled consistently to include candidates on ballots. A half century ago, Jim Crow laws and practices intentionally kept certain people out of elections. Today inclusion is the rule, supported by federal and local laws and the might of the courts.

In Hawai'i we depend on the state Office of Elections and the offices of the four county clerks to manage these missions through agreed-upon systems and protocols. And over the years, our elections have been reasonably well run, with the trend to broaden and enfranchise the opportunities of voters and candidates. More worrisome, voter participation is low in Hawai'i. And so the public-spirited citizen supports election contests that will create interest and bring voters to the polls.

But today we are in mission meltdown. Those running the elections are constraining public participation. There appears to be no underhanded political design at the heart of this, rather a misunderstanding of roles and duties. We need to recognize this serious loss of balance and insist that it be managed much better immediately. Otherwise, we face further erosion.

Our state's chief elections officer, Kevin Cronin, has chosen the narrowest of interpretations in election law, following an admittedly sad and messy day for democracy, this year's July 22 filing deadline.

The filing fiasco began midday with Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi's surprise declaration that she was running for mayor. By day's end, according to the city clerk herself, a good faith declaration was received at the city clerk's office that Kirk Caldwell was withdrawing from the state House race for which he'd filed earlier and was filing for City Council seat vacated by Kobayashi. This was communicated by the city clerk immediately to the state elections office. The cty clerk has stated that her office then processed Caldwell's nomination for the council seat, "based upon the confirmation we received from the state Office of Elections that Mr. Caldwell was considered withdrawn."

Yet several days before the clerk's explanation, Cronin in a news release compared these communications around the filing deadline to someone calling in and claiming to represent John McCain or Barack Obama and withdrawing. He seemed to use that logic to support the claim that there was no withdrawal until the next day when a formal letter from Caldwell was received by the state elections office. The upshot is that there is no race for Council District 5. Mr. Cronin cast one negative ballot for everyone, all by himself, when he discounted the communication and confirmation by his own office at the filing deadline.

The trend to exclude rather than include has continued with the state elections officer cutting the state parties out of the ballot review process. The response was thunderous.

This is not the time for heads to roll. We have very important elections coming up and time frames are tight. Operationally, there are concerns that the new voting machine system, contracted to Hart InterCivic, serves us efficiently and accountably. Ballot testing, precinct official training and voter education on the new system must be stepped up. There is lots to do.

The chief elections officer must foster the dual mission of system transparency and public participation. It isn't one over the other; it's both. Cronin should grasp what has happened in the last few weeks, vow to work more closely with his own staff plus the county clerks and energetically move forward with communications to the public. Let's see if the chief elections officer and all of us can use what's happened as a learning experience and do better. Much better, fast.

Chuck Freedman has worked on the legislative staff of Rep. Kirk Caldwell for the past year and worked in state elections for seven years. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.