House Committee on Judiciary (JUD) - chair: Gilbert S.C. Keith-Agaran, vice chair: Karl Rhoads

Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 2:00 p.m., Conference Room 325

Testifier: Carmille Lim, Voter Services Chair, LWV of Hawaii

Click here to view HB621

Dear Chair Keith Agaran, Vice Chair Rhoads, and Members of the House Committee: Aloha, my name is Carmille Lim, Voter Services Chair of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and I thank you for this opportunity to testify on behalf of our members throughout Hawai‘i. HB 621 changes the voter registration requirement to include only the last four digits of the person's social security number on application to register affidavit. The League of Women Voters of Hawaii supports the privacy of an individual, especially if it affects that person’s ability to vote. We support this bill as a way to protect our citizen's privacy, in the event that their affidavit is lost or misplaced. Having done pre-registration and registration drives in high schools, college campuses, public housing areas and shopping centers in Hawai‘i and in California, I have experienced firsthand when students and adults decline to register to vote not because they were not interested – but because (1) students’ parents would not allow them to list their entire social security number on the affidavits; (2) people felt insecure giving their SSN to a stranger. In addition to supporting this bill, the League of Women Voters of Hawaii requests that the committee consider allowing a citizen to submit their Hawai‘i State Driver’s License number in lieu of the last 4 digits of one’s social security card, and proposes the following amendment: (2) [Social] The last four digits of the person's social security number; or the person’s Hawaii State Driver’s License Number This amendment would emulate policies that are already in place in other state – Washington and Wisconsin, in particular. Mahalo for this opportunity to testify in support of HB 621, with the above amendments.