STAND. COM. REP. NO. 586-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 2590

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2590, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase voter participation in elections by among other things:

(1)  Permitting late voter registration at absentee polling places beginning in 2016; and

(2)  Authorizing late voter registration at precinct polling places beginning in 2018.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Open Law Alliance; Common Cause Hawaii; League of Women Voters; and several concerned individuals testified in support of this measure.  The Office of Elections; Office of the City Clerk of the City and County of Honolulu; Office of the County Clerk of the County of Maui; Office of the County Clerk of the County of Kauai; and Americans for Democratic Action Hawaii commented on this measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2590, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair