HILO, Hawai'i — The Hawai'i County Council voted 7-2 yesterday in favor of becoming the first elected body to try out a proposed new system for publicly funded elections.

The vote marks the first time a state or county body has offered to pilot the proposed new system. Advocates of publicly funded elections have said they plan to pursue the idea of a pilot project on the Big Island at the state Legislature this year.

Councilman Bob Jacobson, who introduced the council resolution, said he believes publicly funded elections would open the process up to non-traditional candidates who don't have much money and who don't have connections to people with money.

Advocates have been lobbying unsuccessfully for years to try to get the state Legislature to adopt proposals for publicly funded campaigns, arguing that public financing would encourage more people to participate in elections and help restore voters' confidence in government.

Jacobson said some state lawmakers suggested to him last year that the Big Island ought to volunteer to be the pilot project for the publicly funded program, and Jacobson agreed to propose that idea to the council.

"It's better to sometimes start out gradually with things so people can see it would work," Jacobson said. "Frankly, if we adopt it here, it's eventually going to go across the state."

Campaign spending at all levels of government in Hawai'i is governed by state law, and only the Legislature can change it. Last year the House unanimously approved House Bill 661 HD1 to set up a system for publicly funded county council races last year, but the measure stalled in the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee. The bill can still be acted on by lawmakers this year.

The plan endorsed by the council yesterday would provide for "comprehensive public funding" for the campaign of any Big Island council candidate who collects both a $5 contribution and a qualifying petition signature from 200 registered voters in the district where they plan to run.

The amount of public funding a candidate would receive would be calculated by averaging the amounts the winning candidates in that district spent in each of the last two elections, and then awarding 90 percent of that amount to each publicly funded candidate to use in the race.

Candidates who choose public funding would only be allowed to spend the public funding, and would face fines if they spend extra money.

Candidates who choose not to participate in the publicly funded program would be free to raise and spend money in the traditional way under existing campaign spending law.

Voting against the resolution yesterday were council members Donald Ikeda and Stacy Higa. Higa said he disagreed with one portion of the resolution that stated the democratic process is "best served" by public finding. Ikeda said specific details such as the total cost of the program were missing from the resolution and supporting documents.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.