HONOLULU (AP) — A Honolulu City Council candidate has asked the Hawaii Supreme Court to order a recount or a new election as part of a review of possible election inaccuracies. ADVERTISING HONOLULU (AP) — A Honolulu City Council candidate
HONOLULU (AP) — A Honolulu City Council candidate has asked the Hawaii Supreme Court to order a recount or a new election as part of a review of possible election inaccuracies.
When final numbers were released by the Office of Elections, candidate Tommy Waters remained 41 votes behind Trevor Ozawa in the race for the 4th District seat.
Chief Election Officer Scott Nago in a final report said Ozawa received 16,374 votes and Waters received 16,333 votes. The report also noted 4,451 blank votes.
Waters, in his request to the state Supreme Court, said there’s enough uncertainty with the process to conclude a recount could alter the results.
Waters said it was reasonable to suspect there was margin of error of .2 percent or more.
An Election Oversight Committee, reviewing the 1998 general election, concluded that .2 percent of votes cast using electronic ballot-counting machines could not be determined to be accurate because of a built-in defect.
Walters said .2 percent of the 2014 results would be 74 votes, which could tip the election.
Ozawa said voters had spoken and he intends to take office Jan. 2. The Office of Elections has an internal auditing system, he said.
“I have faith in the process of the Office of Elections,” Ozawa said. “Especially in a race this close, of course those ballots were looked at.”
An Office of Elections official said the office could not comment because of the pending litigation.
