Cumbersome Hawaii Election Rules Prevent Voters from Choosing the State Representative in First District

On July 11, Hawaii state representative Mark Nakashima died.  He had been running for re-election and no one had filed to run against him in the August 10 Democratic primary.  Nor did anyone to file in any other party’s primary ballot in that district, nor did any independent candidate file.

Hawaii is one of only five states that bans all write-ins in all elections.  Because there is no write-in space, when only one candidate files, that candidate cannot be defeated.  So, voters in the First State House District effectively have lost their ability to choose their state representative.

Hawaii election law provides that the new Representative will be chosen by the Governor, from a list of three Democrats suggested by the Democratic Party.  See this story.