Contact:
     Kevin Cronin
July 29, 2008
Phone:                453-VOTE(8683)


City Councilor Ann Kobayashi's decision to announce publicly her
decision to run for mayor of Honolulu at the last minute on the last
day for filing nomination papers on Tuesday, July 22, began a chain of
rapidly unfolding events leading to today's headline in one paper,
"Gov. Rips Elections Office."  From this numerous stories, blogs and
comments about the operations of the Office of Elections and its chief
election officer arose.  As chief election officer, my response is
appropriate at this time.

At the outset let me say the good people of our beautiful state and
especially all elected public officials ought to respect the law they
created before weighing in on the merits and prejudging an election
case, or any case, and circumstances before the facts are present to a
court to decide.  These cases should not be tried and decided in the
newspapers and other media.  Isn't this our democratic system?
Shouldn't it be allowed to work?  But because they have chosen to
present snippets to the public and reached a decision including
casting aspersions on the Office of Elections whose dedicated staff is
working extremely hard to prepare for the 2008 elections under very
difficult circumstances, the current atmosphere obliges me to comment
before it is necessary under the law.

Here are the facts.  When Kobayashi decided to run for mayor and Rep.
Kirk Caldwell decided to run for her city council seat on Tuesday, the
filing day, he had not, and he did not, personally request the Office
of Elections to withdraw his candidacy for House Representative, 24th
District on that day.  He had the right to withdraw his nomination
papers for representative "until 4:30 p.m. on the day immediately
following the close of filing for any reason" under state law,

Caldwell's late day decision to run for the city council quickly led
to Kathryn Eads's decision to run for Caldwell's seat.  Because she
was in the line at 4:30 p.m. with nomination papers in hand
when the 4:30 p.m. filing deadline arrived, as were other candidates,
she was permitted to file on the advice of staff's general counsel.
But unlike the other candidates whose papers were complete, she
gathered additional signatures after 4:30 p.m., and then filed her
papers.  While the chief election officer has the authority to deny
her filing her papers under these circumstances, given the advice
provided to staff and Eads's right to make her case by completing the
process, she did and filed.

The next day, Wednesday, July 23rd, Caldwell filed with the elections
office for the first time his written request to withdraw.  Although a
"w" (withdraw) was posted on the elections office website on Tuesday,
July 22nd, its posting resulted from confusion between the city and
the state.  This "w" should not have been posted because Caldwell did
not submit his withdrawal request in writing.  To act on an oral
withdrawal would enable any person to withdraw a candidate's name,
thereby adversely affecting the election process.  Imagine, a McCain
supporter calling in an oral request to withdraw the name of Obama
from the ballot, or the reverse.

As chief election officer I reviewed and determined Eads's nomination
papers were incomplete.  The reason was that at 4:30 p.m. on the day
her papers were incomplete and void.  I issued my preliminary decision
on Friday, July 25th, following the law.

Subsequently, I informed Caldwell's party, the Democratic Party, that
he withdrew as a candidate for the 24th District Seat and the party
under its rules had "not later than 4:30 p.m. on the third day
following after the vacancy occurs" to fill the vacancy under the
election law.

That's what happened.  Now let me turn to the fallout that may be
larger than the facts of the issues raised recently.

In my effort to put the public first and to resolve inherited election
and administrative issues, I did not file to register to vote until
last Friday.  I would like to thank the anonymous caller for this
reminder.  After the bipartisan Election Commission appointed me to
chief election officer, on my first day on the job on February 1st, I
filed with the state's personnel office my declaration of my status as
a resident of the state of Hawaii.  I had nothing to hide then and
have nothing to hide now.  The election law provides that the chief
election officer "shall be a citizen of the United States, age 18
years and a registered voter of the State of Hawaii."  Because there
is not a time limit to register to vote and because the law did not
state that the chief election officer "must be" a registered voter, I
reasonably believed I had some time to register to vote up to the
registration deadline in August.

Until I registered to vote, I served as what the law calls a "de
facto" official.  A "de facto" official is one who in good faith
may perform the duties of office without jeopardy to any decisions made.
No one informed me otherwise.  There is no question I was a citizen of
the United States, older than 18 and a resident of Hawaii.  All of
that paperwork had been completed.  What remained to remove the "de
facto" status was to complete an application to become a registered
voter in Hawaii.  Unfortunately, this was one of several personal
items which remained on my to-do list and that working 6-7 days a week
kept getting moved to the next day as I worried about getting a voting
machine system secured for the state and to begin election
preparations in what is expected to bring to the polls an unusually
large number of voters.  When the caller/reporter asked about my
status, I left the office immediately to go to Honolulu Hale to
register to vote.

To experience the attention and anger among many people
over my voter registration status surprised
me, especially when our beautiful state has so many more compelling
issues like education, health care, and transportation, among others.

When I began my service, I inherited many issues and challenges that
carried over from the past.  As a result a great deal of my time since
beginning to serve as chief election officer has been involved in the
lawsuit to determine the state's new voting machine system whose
hearings ended on June 13th that raised questions about the decisions
made as far back as four years ago.  In addition, my other
responsibilities managing the implementation of the election system
for the coming elections and a wide range of administrative duties
occupied both my thinking and my time.  Despite these challenges
foremost in all of my work have been the rights of the voters and each
political party to be sure their right to vote is secure and the
party's candidates may pursue their policies seeking election.  Rest
assured I will continue to do everything possible to conduct an open
and fair election to ensure each vote is counted.

I have nothing to hide; my only agenda is to secure fair and honest
elections for the state of Hawaii and serving all the people
regardless of any political party affiliation.  It is correct to say I
am new to the political workings in Hawaii, but I know and respect
fair elections and the process of developing facts and applying the
law to the best of my ability.  I have already made some staff
changes; if I conclude the public is not well served, I could make
other changes.

As chief election officer, I apply and follow the state's election
laws and interpret them where appropriate.  This may result in
outcomes that may ruffle the feathers of candidates, party officials,
pundits and other interested observers. I understand this and I accept
such possible outcomes as a natural part of overseeing elections in
this great state.

My staff and I will continue to operate in the most transparent manner
under the law, recognizing that operating in this way allows its
actions to be seen by all.  We continue to work diligently everyday to
assure each and every person's right to vote is respected and secured
during the coming elections.  We won't be perfect, but we will be
fair.


                                                       Kevin Cronin
                                                       chief election officer