Bill Text: HI SB780 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Elections.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-29 - Re-Referred to JDC. [SB780 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2025-SB780-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
780 |
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THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO ELECTIONS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The legislature further finds that although the United States Supreme Court held in Trump v. Anderson, 601 U.S. 100, 144 S. Ct. 662, 218 L. Ed. 2d 1 (2024), that Congress enjoys exclusive power to enforce section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution with respect to federal offices, the court reiterated that states retain the authority to enforce that section with respect to state offices. Thus, the legislature seeks to codify its authority to disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office, while leaving the disqualification of candidates for federal office to the United States Congress as required by Trump v. Anderson.
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:
(A) Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;
(B) Article XVI, section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution; or
(C) Another constitutional or statutory provision;
(2) Provide for a process for challenging a candidate's inclusion or exclusion on a ballot issued by the chief election officer or a county clerk;
(3) Include the grounds referenced in paragraph (1) as grounds for a complaint regarding an election contest; and
(4) Specify that electors of presidential and vice presidential candidates shall not be individuals who are disqualified by grounds referenced in paragraph (1), and provide for contests of nominations of individuals disqualified based upon those grounds.
SECTION 2. Chapter 11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part VIII to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§11- Candidates
on ballots; inclusion and exclusion; challenges. (a) Each ballot issued by the chief election
officer and each clerk shall include the name of each qualified candidate and
exclude the name of any disqualified candidate; provided that the chief
election officer or clerk shall exclude any candidate who is disqualified by:
(1) Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;
(2) Article XVI, section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution; or
(3) Another constitutional or statutory provision.
(b)
Any challenge to the inclusion or exclusion of any candidate on a ballot
issued by the chief election officer or clerk that is not filed pursuant to
section 12-8 shall be in writing and, no later than the fifty-seventh day before
the general election, shall be filed with the supreme court. The challenge shall provide notice in a
summary manner of the grounds that give rise to the complaint. No later than the fifty-fourth day prior to
the general election, the supreme court shall hold a hearing regarding the
challenge. The supreme court shall
assess the validity of the complaint and shall issue findings of fact and
conclusions of law no later than the fifty‑third day before the general
election. The party filing the challenge
shall have the burden to sustain the challenge by a preponderance of the
evidence, unless a higher burden is required by constitutional law.
(c)
This section shall not apply to a candidate for election to any federal
office."
SECTION 3. Section 11-172, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§11-172 Contests for cause; generally. (a) With respect to any election, any candidate, or qualified political party directly interested, or any thirty voters of any election district, may file a complaint in the supreme court.
(b)
The complaint shall set forth any cause or causes, [such as but not
limited to, provable] including:
(1) Provable
fraud, overages, or underages, that could cause a difference in the election
results[.]; or
(2) A
candidate's disqualification pursuant to:
(A) Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;
(B) Article XVI, section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution; or
(C) Another constitutional or statutory provision;
provided
that a complaint filed pursuant to this subsection shall be dismissed if the
facts alleged cannot be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, or by any
higher burden of proof required by constitutional law, or if the complaint is
based on facts or substantially similar facts that could have previously been
raised pursuant to section 11- , section 12-8, or this
paragraph, and the previous action failed.
(c) The complaint shall also set forth any reasons for reversing, correcting, or changing the decisions of the voter service center officials or the officials at a counting center in an election using the electronic voting system.
(d) A copy of the complaint shall be delivered to the chief election officer or the clerk in the case of county elections."
SECTION 4. Section 14-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§14-21 Nomination of
presidential electors and alternates; certification by parties; notification of
nominees; pledge. (a) In each year when electors of president and
vice president of the United States are to be chosen, each of the political
parties or parties or groups qualified under section 11-113 shall hold a state
party or group convention pursuant to the constitution, bylaws, and rules of
the party or group; and nominate as candidates for its party or group as many
electors, and a first and second alternate for each elector, of president and
vice president of the United States as the State is then entitled. The electors and alternates shall be
registered voters of the State[.] and shall not be individuals who
are disqualified by section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution
of the United States; article XVI, section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution;
or another constitutional or statutory provision. The names and addresses of the nominees shall
be certified by the chairperson and secretary of the convention of the
respective parties or groups and submitted to the chief election officer no
later than 4:30 p.m. on the sixtieth day before the general election of the same
year. The chief election officer upon
receipt thereof, shall immediately notify each of the nominees for elector and
alternate elector of the nomination.
(b)
Each elector nominee and alternate elector nominee of a political party
or group shall execute the following pledge: "If selected for the position
of elector, I agree to serve and to mark my ballots for president and vice
president for the nominees for those offices of the
party or group that nominated [me".] me, except that I may
decline to vote for any nominee who has died." The executed pledges shall accompany the
submission of the corresponding names to the chief election officer. Electors shall be released from their pledge
if the presidential candidate whom they are pledged to vote for dies. Electors shall not be released from their
pledge under any circumstance other than the death of the presidential
candidate for whom they are pledged to vote."
SECTION 5. Section 14-22, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§14-22 Contested nominations of
presidential electors and alternates.
(a) If [more]:
(1) More than one certificate of choice and selection of presidential electors and alternate electors of the same political party or group; or
(2) Any
party, individual, or group with a candidate on the presidential ballot; or any
group of not less than thirty voters of any election district asserts that an
elector or alternate is disqualified pursuant to:
(A) Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States;
(B) Article XVI, section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution; or
(C) Another constitutional or statutory provision,
and a
complaint is filed with the chief election officer, as chairperson of the
contested presidential electors' committee hereby constituted, the chief
election officer shall notify the state comptroller and attorney general, who
are the remaining members of the committee, of the date, time, and place of [the]
a hearing [to].
(b)
The hearing shall be held for the purposes of [making a
determination of which] determining:
(1) Which
set of electors and alternative electors were lawfully chosen and selected
by the political party or group[.]; or
(2) Whether
an elector or alternate is disqualified as described in subsection (a)(2),
as the
case may be.
(c)
Notice of the hearing shall be given to the chairperson of the state
central committee of each political party and the chairperson of each party or
group qualified under section 11-113, contestants for the positions of
electors and alternate electors by written notice, and to all other interested
parties by public notice at least once.
A determination shall be made by the contested presidential electors'
committee by majority vote [not] no later than 4:30 p.m. on
October 30 of the same year and the determination shall be final. Notice of the results shall be given to the
nominees duly determined to have been chosen.
The contested presidential electors' committee shall have all the
powers enumerated in section 11-43."
SECTION 6. Section 14-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§14-23 Time for election, number
to be chosen. In each presidential
election year there shall be elected at large, at the general election, by the
voters of the State, as many electors and alternates of president and vice
president of the United States as the State is then entitled to elect, in the
manner provided under section 11-113.
The electors and the alternates [must] shall be registered
voters of the State[.] and shall not be individuals who are
disqualified by section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States; article XVI, section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution; or
another constitutional or statutory provision. The election shall be conducted and the
results thereof determined in conformity with the laws governing general
elections except as otherwise provided."
SECTION 7. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 8. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Elections; Candidates; Ballots; Electors; Disqualification
Description:
Specifies that election ballots issued by the Chief Election Officer or county clerk shall exclude any candidate who is disqualified by a constitutional or statutory provision. Provides for a process for challenging an inclusion or exclusion of a candidate from a ballot. Includes a candidate's disqualification as grounds for an election contest complaint. Specifies that electors of presidential and vice presidential candidates shall not be individuals who are disqualified by a constitutional or statutory provision.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
