Requires a manual recount and audit in election contests where difference in votes cast between top 2 candidates for that office is less than 1% of the votes cast for that contest excluding spoiled, over or under, and blank ballots.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that election contests litigated before the state supreme court are expensive, time consuming, and inefficient. This process also disenfranchises the voters of a district whose election contest is subject to litigation, as confirmation of an elected official cannot take place until the litigation and manual recount are completed.

The nature of a fair and open multiparty democracy is such that differing positions on important issues will result in election contests where the margin of victory is close. Yet there must also be a more efficient process in place by which doubts over the accuracy of a vote count may be resolved. Experience teaches that machines are imperfect, the directions given to voters at each precinct may differ and be imperfect as well, along with a host of other reasons that serve to remind us that no process is perfect.

The purpose of this Act is to require an automatic recount and audit of votes cast under certain conditions, without requiring the intervention of the judiciary.

SECTION 2. Chapter 11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part X to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§11- Recount and audit of votes cast for close contests. (a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, if, within three days after an election, the chief election officer determines that the number of votes received by the candidate for an office who receives the greatest number of votes exceeds the number of votes received by the candidate receiving the next highest number of votes by less than one per cent of the total number of votes cast for the office, excluding spoiled and blank ballots, the chief election officer shall order a manual recount and audit of the votes cast for that contest, which shall be conducted within ten working days. Before the recount is commenced, the chief election officer shall give notice in writing to the two leading candidates in that contest of the time and place where that recount is to be made. The candidates affected by the recount may send two representatives each to be present at the recount. At the completion of the recount, the chief election officer shall announce the officer's findings within twenty-four hours. The chief election officer may adopt rules under chapter 91 to implement this section in a fair, uniform, and impartial manner. For purposes of this section, "total number of votes cast" means in the case of multiple openings for the same office, the total number of voters who have cast votes for the office in question.

(b) Nothing in this section shall preclude the right to judicial proceedings under this chapter."

SECTION 3. Section 11-155, Hawaii Revised Statues, is amended to read as follows:

"§11-155 Certification of results of election. On receipt of certified tabulations from the elections officials concerned, the chief election officer or county clerk in county elections shall compile, certify, and release the election results after the expiration of the time for bringing an election contest[.]; provided that any election to which section 11-   applies shall not be certified until after completion of the manual recount and audit required by section 11- . The certification shall be based on a comparison and reconciliation of the following:

A certificate of election or a certificate of results declaring the results of the election as of election day shall be issued pursuant to section 11-156; provided that in the event of an overage or underage, a list of all precincts in which an overage or underage occurred shall be attached to the certificate. The number of candidates to be elected receiving the highest number of votes in any election district shall be declared to be elected. Unless otherwise provided, the term of office shall begin or end as of the close of polls on election day. the position on the question receiving the appropriate majority of the votes cast shall be reflected in a certificate of results issued pursuant to section 11-156."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.