OHA Election

There has been some discussion in the comments about the OHA race and candidates, so I want to clarify how the OHA election works, for those who plan on voting.

Join me in the extended entry for the details... including the list of candidates...

The OHA election will be on the November 7 ballot (not on the September 23 primary ballot). All registered voters can vote (one no longer must be native Hawaiian).

Five of OHA's seats are residency seats for each major island, and four of them are at-large or no-residency requirement. However, note that the OHA seats are residency requirements, not actual districts, so voters on all islands can vote in all races (in other words, on Maui here I can still vote in the O'ahu race).

Each cycle, four or five of the trustees are up for reelection. This cycle: three of the at-large seats (incumbents Akana, Stender and Waihee) plus the Oahu seat (incumbent Carpenter) and the Maui seat (incumbent Mossman). (Dela Cruz, Cataluna, Machado, and Apoliona are not up for reelection this time.)

Here's the list of candidates (my endorsements in bold):

Maui

Blossom Feiteira
Boyd Mossman*

O'ahu

Jackie Burke
Dante Carpenter*
Walter Heen
Frankie Kay Kawelo
S. Kaui Na'auao
M. Kapiolani Reynolds

State at-large (3 seats)

Rowena Akana*
Whitney Anderson
D. Ululani Beirne
Roy Benham
Manu Boyd
Robin Danner
Newton Harbottle
D. Kehaulani Hew Len
Leona Kalima
Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele
Melissa Lyman
Willy Meyers
Oswald Stender*
John Waihe'e IV*
Arvid Youngquist

(* = incumbent)

Go to the second to last page on this PDF of candidates to see the list with their contact information.

And go to the bottom of the Online Voters Guide page for the list with links to candidate profiles (for those who submitted them).

Go to the Voter Registration page to download (or find other places to get) registration forms, and see other relevant registration details. The deadline is October 9 to register to vote in the November election (registration for primary is already passed).

I also recommend requesting an absentee ballot for both elections, which gives you time to study and research the ballot to make up your mind.

Update: From Doug and a S-B article, a caution for the primary ballot (which won't have OHA candidates)... be sure to read the directions—you can only vote in one party primary, and if you try to cast votes across parties you will spoil your ballot.

Posted: Sat - September 2, 2006 at 10:35 AM

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OHA Election

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