STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2200

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2117

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2117, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ABSENTEE BALLOTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to facilitate the absentee voting process by allowing:

     (1)  A permanent absentee voter to temporarily receive a ballot at an alternate address within an election cycle; and

     (2)  A voter to receive and return an absentee ballot by electronic transmission, if the voter requires a ballot within five days of an election or would otherwise not be able to return a ballot by the close of polls.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of Elections, the County of Maui Office of the County Clerk, and the County of Kauai Office of the County Clerk.

     Your Committee finds that this measure will benefit absentee voters who need to replace a spoiled ballot near the date of an election or who may have been called away, such as for a family emergency, and are unable to receive or return a ballot by mail by the close of polls on election day.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2117, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair