STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1033

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 92

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 92 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VOTING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Provide that the ballot of an absentee or military-overseas voter is valid even if the voter becomes ineligible to vote after casting the ballot; and

     (2)  Repeal section 15-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which invalidates the cast ballot of an absentee voter who has died prior to the opening of the polls on election day, under certain conditions.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Elections; Ho‘ākea Communications; Military Officers Association of America, Hawaii Chapter; and National Association for Uniformed Services, Hawaii Chapter.

     Your Committee finds that voters who in good faith cast their ballots while eligible to vote should have their ballots counted even if they become ineligible after casting their ballots.  This measure is an important recognition of the selfless service of our deployed military personnel.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 92, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair