It appears the Aloha Aina Party, which was certified to have candidates on the ballot for the first time in 2020, will soon be notified that it will be decertified after failing capture the minimum number of votes to remain on the ballot.
The party hoped its expressed commitment to Hawaiian values would naturally attract Hawaiian voters.
“The AAP is founded on and promotes traditional Hawaiian values such as living aloha and being pono. It is inclusive, and nurturing, and it will celebrate diversity and address the needs and concerns of all the people of Hawaii,” Pua Ishibashi, a founding member of the party, wrote in a Civil Beat column in March 2020. “The AAP will recognize the divine, aloha the people, malama the aina, demand government accountability and transparency, advocate for hooponopono and restore what was lost as it relates to the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893.”
Well, long story short, that did not happen.
In 2022, the party fielded just five candidates. One for U.S. Senate, one for a state senate seat, along with candidates in three House districts.
The AAP’s candidate drew a total of 6,766 votes.
Dan Decker was the party’s leading vote-getter, with 2,208 votes, ending a distant 5th (and last) place behind U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, who garnered 290,894 votes.
To assure the party’s continued place on the ballot, Decker would have needed to capture over 40,000 votes. The other criteria for recertification appear to equally unattainable.
The requirements to remain a certified political party are set by law. Any party that fails to receive the required number of votes “shall be subject to decertification.”
(2) The party received at least ten per cent of all votes cast:
(A) For any of the offices voted upon by all the voters in the State; or
(B) In at least fifty per cent of the congressional districts; or
(3) The party received at least four per cent of all the votes cast for all the offices of state senator statewide; or
(4) The party received at least four per cent of all the votes cast for all the offices of state representative statewide; or
(5) The party received at least two per cent of all the votes cast for all the offices of state senate and all the offices of state representative combined statewide.
The law requires parties to receive a notice of decertification within 120 days of the election.
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This is disappointing. I had high hopes that Aloha Aina might develop into a viable second party for the State Legislature. We need a vocal minority to provide accountability for the Democratic party and a Hawaii-based one makes sense. However, questionable leadership decisions seem to have done their Party in after what seemed like a promising start. Too bad, back to the same old, same old, I guess.
We have the Green Party, which I belong to in the hope that america will finally do the right thing for Hawai’i and take out all the jet fuel, nukes and other weapons of mass destruction…
We have a Hawai’ian Kingdom government and a Sovereign Nation even if Ian fails to acknowledge it on our Independence Day.
And we have such an awesome surplus of empty rhetoric and wishful thinking!
When I was researching candidates I tried researching the Green Party Candidate for my district. I found next to nothing about the candidate. I left a message on the Green Party Facebook page to let them know that the complete lack of information about the candidate was a deal breaker for me as an independent voter. Hard to get behind any candidate that makes zero effort. As for the Party itself, while I believe its platform is laudable, the image of Euell Gibbons-style bark-eating activism will forever plague any party with Green in its name.
Wouldn’t the decertification of a political party, regardless of how popular (or unpopular) it is, sort of a violation of the 1st Amendment?
Naturally I understand that the government in power (basically 2 parties here but one in actuality) feels a need to establish criteria or else it would be a s**tshow of political parties on ballots every election time BUT…it is a matter for free speech, no?
Sad testimonial of voter apathy.
Zero education on civics in our schools.
Voting is by reliance on advertising rather than scrutinized campaign funding by influencers.
Media, which is funded by same influencers, keeps the extractive game going.
Now the cosplay bum army is our only hope.
Interesting that they want to celebrate diversity in Hawaii, because they have been tearing our communities apart with their references to non K?naka as settlors. Our Island community took generations to build but they willingly tore it apart with divisive language. Maybe folks are tired of this kind of talk.
Aloha Aina has been replaced by Kapu Aloha.
Sad, to see that once prominent radical Walter Ritte, is now a member of the Democratic Party, also referred to as the “Fake State” by staunch activists.
Based on simple voting numerics, a
minority of registered voters participated in this most recent election. What that clearly establishes, is first the Elected are not representative of a Majority and second, in 2022 Voters did not represent, anywhere near half of Hawaii’s population. With Ranked Choice voting, those figures will substantially decrease, creating mass alienation of a Statewide “Silent Majority”.