Senate Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations (JGO) - chair: Taniguchi, vice chair: Takamine

Friday, February 5, 2010, 9:35 a,m. Conference Room 016

Testifier: Jean Aoki, LWV of Hawaii

Click here to view SB2819

Chair Senator Taniguchi, Vice Chair Senator Takamine, members of JGO, The League of Women Voters of Hawaii is in strong support of SB 2819 Relating to Elections. For a long time, we have supported providing a longer period between the primary and general elections. The absentee ballots were a factor, but also the fact that the six weeks now provided leaves no room for error or for more complicated challenges to election results. Even under normal conditions, the staff is under stress to get the ballots ready and distributed in time for the General Election. Lengthening the time between the primary and general elections will allow doing the necessary preparations in a more deliberate and controlled way, reducing or eliminating errors. And this, of course, will also help us meet the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act's requirements for providing for absentee ballots to overseas voters. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to testify in support of SB 2819.