STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1300

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 32

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 32 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require the Chief Election Officer to establish procedures to select a letter of the alphabet by lot prior to each election cycle to arrange the last names of candidates on ballots in alphabetical order beginning with the letter of the alphabet selected by lot; and

     (2)  Apply this alphabet selection and alphabetical ordering requirement to elections in the next two-year election cycle following the effective date of this measure.

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Elections, Office of the County Clerk, and League of Women Voters of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that existing law requires that the names of the candidates be placed upon the ballot for their respective offices in alphabetical order with a few exceptions.  The League of Women Voters of Hawaii testified that it is well documented that being listed first on a ballot increases a candidate's total vote count from two to three percentage points depending on the candidate's party affiliation, whether it is a nonpartisan race, or whether it is a primary or general election.  This measure proposes to randomly determine the arrangement of names of candidates on a ballot to assist in achieving a more equitable election.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 32, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 32, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair