Bill Text: HI HB626 | 2019 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Vacancies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-04-25 - Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday 04-26-19 3:20PM in conference room 325. [HB626 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2019-HB626-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
626 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO VACANCIES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 17-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§17-2 United States representative. (a) When a vacancy occurs in the representation
of this State in the United States House of Representatives, the chief election
officer shall issue a proclamation, not later than fourteen days after the
vacancy occurs, for an election to fill the vacancy[.] by special
election to be conducted by ranked choice voting. The proclamation shall be issued not later
than on the sixtieth day prior to the election to fill the vacancy and shall
contain the date, time, and places where the special election is to be held,
the time within which nomination papers shall be filed, the time for
transmitting to county clerks the notice designating the offices for which
candidates are to be elected, the time for transmitting to county clerks lists
of candidates to be voted for at the special election, a statement that
votes shall be cast and tabulated using ranked choice voting and include an
explanation of ranked choice voting, and [such] any other matter
as provided for in section 11-91 [and which] that are not
inconsistent with this section. The
special election shall be conducted and the results ascertained so far as
practicable, in accordance with this title.
(b) The following procedures shall be used to determine the winner of the special election conducted by ranked choice voting:
(1) Tabulation of
votes shall proceed in rounds;
(2) In each round,
the number of votes for each continuing candidate shall be counted, with each
continuing ballot counting as one vote for its highest-ranked continuing
candidate for that round;
(3) Inactive ballots
shall not be counted for any continuing candidate; and
(4) The round shall
end with one of two potential outcomes:
(A) If
there are two or fewer continuing candidates, the candidate with the most votes
is declared the winner of the election; or
(B) If
there are more than two continuing candidates, the last-place candidate is
defeated and a new round begins.
A tie under this section between candidates for
the most votes in the final round or a tie between last-place candidates in any
round shall be decided by lot, and the candidate chosen by lot shall be
defeated. The office of elections may
modify a ranked-choice voting ballot and tabulation; provided that the number
of allowable rankings may be limited to no fewer than six and two or more
candidates may be defeated simultaneously by batch elimination in any round of
tabulation.
(c) Pending the special election, the governor
shall make a temporary appointment to fill the vacancy by selecting a person
from a list of three prospective appointees submitted by the same political
party as the prior incumbent. The
appointee shall serve until the special election and qualification of the
person duly elected to fill the vacancy and shall be, at the time of
appointment, and shall have been, for at least six months immediately prior to
the appointment, a member of the same political party as the prior
incumbent. The appointee shall be a
resident of the State. If the prior
incumbent was not a member of any political party, the governor shall appoint a
person who is not and has not been, for at least six months immediately prior
to the appointment, a member of any political party.
(d) For the purposes of this section:
"Batch elimination"
means the simultaneous defeat of multiple candidates for whom it is
mathematically impossible to be elected.
"Continuing ballot"
means a ballot that is not an inactive ballot.
"Highest continuing
ranking" means the highest ranking on a voter's ballot for a continuing
candidate.
"Inactive ballot" means
a ballot that does not rank any continuing candidate, contains an overvote at
the highest continuing ranking, or contains two or more sequential skipped
rankings before its highest continuing ranking.
"Last-place candidate"
means the candidate with the fewest votes in a round of ranked-choice voting
tabulation.
"Mathematically impossible
to be elected", with respect to a candidate, means that:
(1) The candidate
cannot be elected because the candidate's vote total in a round of the
ranked-choice voting tabulation plus all votes that could possibly be
transferred to the candidate in future rounds from candidates with fewer votes
or an equal number of votes would not be enough to surpass the candidate with
the next-higher vote total in the round; or
(2) The candidate
has a lower vote total than a candidate described in paragraph (1).
"Overvote" means a
circumstance in which a voter has ranked more than one candidate at the same ranking.
"Ranked choice voting"
means the method of casting and tabulating votes in which voters rank
candidates in order of preference, tabulation proceeds in sequential rounds in
which last-place candidates are defeated, and the candidate with the most votes
in the final round is elected.
"Ranking" means the
number assigned on a ballot by a voter to a candidate to express the voter's
preference for that candidate, in which number one is the highest ranking,
number two is the next-highest ranking, and so on.
"Round" means an
instance of the sequence of voting tabulation steps established in subsection
(b).
"Skipped ranking" means
a circumstance in which a voter has left a ranking blank and ranks a candidate
at a subsequent ranking."
SECTION 2. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Report Title:
Elections; Vacancies; United States Representatives; Ranked Choice Voting
Description:
Requires vacancies in the office of United States Representative to be filled by special election that is conducted using ranked choice voting. Requires the governor to make a temporary appointment to the office of United States Representative pending the special election. (SD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
