Report Title:

Elections; Unopposed Candidate

 

Description:

Declares that a candidate who is not opposed by any candidate, nonpartisan or otherwise, and is nominated at the primary election shall be deemed to be elected to that office.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1691
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO ELECTIONS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  Hawaii's election law provides different rules by which partisan and nonpartisan candidates for elective office advance from the primary to the general election.  Partisan candidates in contested primary elections advance to the general election based upon who receives the most votes.  Partisan candidates who run unopposed advance automatically.  By comparison, nonpartisan candidates who are unopposed must receive a certain low minimum number of votes in a primary election in order to advance.

     The legislature finds, however, that the state office of elections has recently ruled that a partisan candidate whose only opposition came in the form of a single nonpartisan candidate who did not receive enough votes in the primary to advance to the general election could not be deemed elected after the primary election and instead had to run unopposed in the general election.  It is impossible to ascertain how such a determination advances the public interest in any way.  The only discernible impacts of such a ruling are the added time, expense, and inconvenience incurred by the election system and the unopposed candidate.

     The purpose of this Act is to provide unequivocally that a candidate who has no opponent whether partisan or nonpartisan after a primary election, shall be deemed elected after that primary election.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§12-     Candidates unopposed at general election declared elected.  Any candidate running for any office in the State who is nominated at the primary election as the candidate of the party for the following general election and who is not opposed in a general election because no other candidate, nonpartisan or otherwise, qualifies for nomination shall, after the primary election, be deemed and declared to be duly and legally elected to the office for which the person was nominated as the party candidate at the primary election regardless of the number of votes received."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________