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February 1966

April 1966

We Have a Consensus! (Nan Lowers & Marguerite Simson)
Action on Election Laws
Legislative Workshops (Sue Thorndike)
Maui Unit of State League of Women Voters (Marion Saunders)
State Convention
Human Resources (Lila Grossman)
State Board
Call to Action

We Have a Consensus!

Dear Member:

Congratulations to you all for having reached the first state-wide consensus! We have agreed that we would like to see

  1. The voting age lowered from the present 20 to 18 years.

  2. Residency requirements in the state lowered from one year to six months; and in the precinct from three months to 30 days.

  3. Federal employees and military personnel residing in our state given the right to vote on the same basis as any other qualified voter in Hawaii.

  4. Insistence upon some identification at the polling place preferably a signature.

The results of the first year's study of Election Laws show hard work and much study on the part of the committee, followed by more study and careful thinking by members.

The fact that you were unable to arrive at consensus on all the questions you were asked shows the thoughtful consideration which you gave to the whole subject. True consensus is not "agreeing to agree" for the sake of a deadline. Action, the next step in the process, must be based on positive feeling that "this should be done."

Obviously there is more work to be done on Election Laws. The next phase of study will cover administration of the laws. In addition, you have returned for further information and discussion the questions of (1) literacy qualification (2) arrangements to allow otherwise unqualified residents to vote for president (3) blanket re-registration and the related question of keeping registration current and (4) clarification of the status of the non-partisan candidate on the ballot.

The questions which you returned to the Board are difficult questions to resolve. It is possible that we may not be able to get state-wide agreement on all of them.

However, the questions on which we do have consensus were equally difficult. Again, congratulations to you.

Marguerite Simson, President
Nan Lowers, Director

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