SB2306.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the current plurality voting method allows a candidate to win an election with less than a majority of votes when there are more than two candidates for the office. In elections with many candidates, the plurality method may result in winners receiving small percentages of votes, as well as the election of candidates who are not the most favored among the voters. For these winners, this may raise concerns about a lack of public support and confidence; it may also undermine the ability of those elected to govern effectively.

Instant runoff voting is an election method that allows voters, at their option, to rank candidates as their first choice, second choice, and subsequent choices. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and the votes for the eliminated candidate are automatically transferred to those voters' second choice candidate, just as if the votes were cast in a traditional election runoff.

Instant runoff voting assures that elected officials have the support of a majority of voters because it allows voters to indicate their preferences among other candidates in addition to their favored candidate. Instant runoff voting allows all voters to vote for their favorite candidate without fear of helping to elect their least favorite candidate.

The legislature further finds that instant runoff voting has been used effectively around the world, including in Ireland for presidential elections, Australia and Fiji for parliamentary elections, London's 2000 election for mayor, and three recent San Francisco elections. Oakland, California, Davis, California, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Pierce County, Washington also recently approved instant runoff voting systems.

The legislature further finds that Hawaii voting systems, including optical scanning, can handle instant runoff voting with little or no difficulty.

The purpose of this Act is to allow for the instant runoff method of voting for elections in which no primary election is held or in elections that would normally be subject to a runoff election if a candidate was not elected by majority vote in an initial special election; provided that in these instant runoff elections, a majority vote shall be required unless no candidate achieves a majority after the fourth run-off vote, in which case the candidate with the highest vote count wins.

SECTION 2. Section 11-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""Instant runoff method" a method of casting and tabulating votes that simulates the ballot counts that would occur if all voters participated in a series of runoff elections, whereby the voters are allowed to rank candidates according to their preference and, if no candidate obtains a majority of first‑choice votes, votes are transferred in sequential tabulations according to voters' preferences, in the manner set forth in sections 11-A to 11-C. Each voter shall have only one vote for each office but that vote may be transferred according to each voter's indicated preferences in the manner provided by sections 11-A to 11-C.

"Majority election contest" means an election contest in which:

(1) A candidate, by law, must receive a majority of votes cast for the office to be elected outright in the first or initial special election;

(2) If no candidate receives a majority, a runoff election is held between the two candidates receiving the most votes; and

(3) The candidate with the highest number of votes in the runoff election is deemed elected."

SECTION 3. Chapter 11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding three new sections to part X to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§11-A Instant runoff method; procedure for counting votes. (a) To determine the winners in elections conducted by the instant runoff method, ballots shall be counted initially by the election officials according to the first choice marked on each ballot. If at the end of the initial count, one candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, that candidate shall be declared the winner for that office.

(b) If at the end of the initial count, no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes cast, the chief election officer shall declare that no candidate has received a majority of first-choice votes and that the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is defeated, and shall transfer the defeated candidate's first-choice votes to the candidates who received the next highest ranking on each ballot containing votes to be transferred. If after the first round of transferring votes, no candidate has received a majority of votes cast for the office, this process of eliminating candidates, transferring votes, including previously transferred votes, to candidates still in the race, and tabulating results, shall continue until one candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, excluding blank and spoiled votes, or there is only one candidate remaining; provided that if no candidate has received a majority of the votes cast after the fourth round of tabulation, then the candidate with the most first-choice votes following the fourth round of tabulation shall be declared the winner regardless of whether that candidate has received a majority of the votes cast.

(c) If at any point a candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, or if there is only one candidate remaining, or if no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast through the fourth round of tabulation and the candidate with the most first-choice votes following the fourth round of tabulation is declared the winner, then a certificate of election declaring the results shall be issued pursuant to section 11-156.

§11-B Instant runoff method; generally. (a) The instant runoff method may be accelerated, at the choice of the chief election officer, by eliminating all candidates with fewer than one per cent of the first-choice votes cast for the office. Under this provision, the first-choice vote on ballots cast for eliminated candidates shall be transferred to the candidates who are still in the race, who received the voters' next highest ranking on those ballots.

(b) If a ballot has no more available choices ranked on it, the ballot shall be deemed exhausted.

(c) If a ballot skips a ranking, the ballot shall be considered exhausted. A ballot that gives two or more candidates the same ranking shall be deemed exhausted when that ranking is reached unless only one of the candidates so ranked is still in the race when the vote is due to be transferred.

(d) In the case of a tie between candidates for last place, and thus elimination, occurring at any stage in the tabulation, the tie shall be resolved so as to eliminate the candidate who received the least number of first choices and transferred votes combined at the previous stage of tabulation. In the case of a tie to which a previous stage does not apply, or if the previous stage was also a tie, the tie shall be resolved by drawing lots. However, if the tie occurs when there are only two candidates remaining, the tie shall be resolved as set forth in section 11-157.

§11-C Instant runoff voting method; application. (a) The instant runoff method shall be used in all contests for offices in which no primary election is held; provided that, notwithstanding any law or county charter to the contrary, at the discretion of the chief election officer in the case of a state office, or the county clerk in the case of a county office, the instant runoff election method may be used in a majority election contest, which would normally require a first or initial special election, followed by a runoff election if the candidate does not receive a majority in the first or initial special election. If the instant runoff voting method is used, then the election shall only consist of one election, and the subject election shall not include a first or initial special election. If the chief election officer or county clerk, as applicable, elects to use the instant runoff election method in such a case, the chief election officer or county clerk, as applicable, shall include this information in the election proclamation required pursuant to section 11-91.

(b) For purposes of this section, the chief election officer shall adopt rules under chapter 91, to provide for the use of mechanical, electronic, or other means devised for marking, sorting, and counting the ballots and tabulating and transferring the votes; provided that no rule may alter the intent or principles embodied in the instant runoff method.

(c) Ballots approved under this section shall be simple and easy to understand and shall allow a voter to rank each candidate for an office in order of preference, up to four places. Instructions on the ballot shall include the following statement: "You may mark as many or as few alternate choices as you wish. Marking a second choice cannot help defeat your first choice. Marking a subsequent choice cannot help defeat your higher ranked choices." Sample ballots illustrating voting procedures shall be posted in or near the voting booth and be

included in the instruction materials for absentee ballots."

SECTION 4. Section 11-112, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§11-112 Contents of ballot. (a) The ballot shall contain the names of the candidates, their party affiliation or nonpartisanship in partisan election contests, the offices for which they are running, and the district in which the election is being held. In multimember races the ballot shall state that the voter shall not vote for more than the number of seats available or the number of candidates listed where such number is less than the seats available.

(b) The ballot may include questions concerning proposed state constitutional amendments, proposed county charter amendments, or proposed initiative or referendum issues.

(d) When the electronic voting system is used, the ballot may have pre-punched codes and printed information which identify the voting districts, precincts, and ballot sets to facilitate the electronic data processing of these ballots.

(e) The name of the candidate may be printed with the Hawaiian or English equivalent or nickname, if the candidate so requests in writing at the time the candidate's nomination papers are filed. Candidates' names, including the Hawaiian or English equivalent or nickname, shall be set on one line.

(f) The ballot shall bear no word, motto, device, sign, or symbol other than allowed in this title.

(g) The ballot may include language necessary to use the instant runoff method pursuant to sections 11-A to 11‑C."

SECTION 5. Section 11-151, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§11-151 Vote count. [~~Each~~] Except for contests where the instant runoff method is applied, each contest or question on a ballot shall be counted independently as follows:

(1) If the votes cast in a contest or question are equal to or less than the number to be elected or chosen for that contest or question, the votes for that contest or question shall be counted;

(2) If the votes cast in a contest or question exceed the number to be elected or chosen for that contest or question, the votes for that contest or question shall not be counted; and

(3) If a contest or question requires a majority of the votes for passage, any blank, spoiled, or invalid ballot shall not be tallied for passage or as votes cast except that such ballots shall be counted as votes cast in ratification of a constitutional amendment or a question for a constitutional convention."

SECTION 6. Section 11-152, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§11-152 Method of counting. (a) In an election using the paper ballot voting system, immediately after the close of the polls, the chairperson of the precinct officials shall open the ballot box. The precinct officials at the precinct shall proceed to count the votes as follows:

(1) The whole number of ballots shall first be counted to see if their number corresponds with the number of ballots cast as recorded by the precinct officials;

(2) If the number of ballots corresponds with the number of persons recorded by the precinct officials as having voted, the precinct officials shall then proceed to count the [~~vote~~] votes cast for each candidate;

(3) If there are more ballots or less ballots than the record calls for the precinct officials shall proceed as directed in section 11-153.

(b) In those precincts using the electronic voting system, the ballots shall be taken in the sealed ballot boxes to the counting center according to the procedure and schedule promulgated by the chief election officer to promote the security of the ballots. In the presence of official observers, counting center employees may start to count the ballots prior to the closing of the polls provided there shall be no printout by the computer or other disclosure of the number of votes cast for a candidate or on a question prior to the closing of the polls. For the purposes of this section, the closing of the polls is that time identified in section 11-131 as the closing hour of voting.

SECTION 7. Section 11-155, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§11-155 Certification of results of election. On receipt of certified tabulations from the election 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. The certification shall be based on a comparison and reconciliation of the following:

(1) The results of the canvass of ballots conducted pursuant to chapter 16;

(2) The audit of pollbooks (and related record books) and resultant overage and underage report;

(3) The audit results of the manual audit team;

(4) The results of the absentee ballot reconciliation report compiled by the clerks; and

(5) All logs, tally sheets, and other documents generated during the election and in the canvass of the election results.

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, except candidates for offices subject to the instant runoff voting method and certified pursuant to section 11-A, 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 8. In codifying the new sections added by section 3 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.

SECTION 9. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 10. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that this Act shall not apply to any election held prior to January 1, 2011; and provided further that, no later than December 31, 2010, the chief election officer and each county clerk shall adopt rules under chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to effectuate the purposes of this Act.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2306
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII