Hawaii plans to cut 66 precincts to reduce election expenses
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Office of Elections is proposing eliminating 66 voting precincts statewide for next year's elections in an effort to cut costs.
The cuts, which amount to a 19 percent reduction from the 339 precincts used in last year's election, could lead to increased lines at voter precincts, create election-day confusion and generally make it less convenient for residents to vote.
The elections office is trying to "cut costs and recognize the dire financial circumstances that the state and the Office of Elections is facing for the 2010 elections," said Kevin Cronin, the state's chief elections officer. "Money is very tight. We're very concerned."
The list of precinct consolidations was contained in a draft report submitted to the state Legislature this week. Criteria used to determine which polling places would close included whether the polling place:
Just how much money the state saves depends on how much it pays for voting machines under its next contract. Reducing precincts reduces the number of voting machines the state needs to procure.
The state Legislature this year provided the elections office with $2.8 million to acquire voting machines. That combined with county funds could equal $5.6 million to secure voting machines for next year's elections, which are expected to include hotly contested races for governor and Honolulu mayor.
The elections office spent $6.5 million procuring 800 voting machines for last year's election.
If all goes smoothly, the elections office hopes to solicit voting-machine bids in July and select a winner in September.
State House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), said he opposed closing the 66 voting precincts.
"I would be very concerned if they have to close or not open the 66 precincts throughout the state of Hawai'i," he said. "Accessibility to a precinct poll is so important to the public at large and you can see that in the results of the voting for our neighborhood boards. The results were so poor."
Last month's Honolulu neighborhood board elections were the first in the nation where voters had to send in their choices via the Internet or telephone. The election, which was supposed to cut costs, drew less than 6.5 percent participation, down from 28 percent in the city's last neighborhood board elections in 2007.
Say said those results prove that many residents still prefer voting in precincts.
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