HONOLULU (AP) — A federal judge is ruling a Native Hawaiian election for a convention may go ahead next month.
HONOLULU (AP) — A federal judge is ruling a Native Hawaiian election for a convention may go ahead next month.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright said Friday the election is a private poll, and not one run by the state.
A lawsuit filed in August to stop the poll argued it’s unconstitutional for the state to be involved in a race-based election.
The state argues it’s not involved in next month’s vote to elect delegates for a convention to come up with a self-governance document for Native Hawaiians to ratify.
Native Hawaiians are the last remaining indigenous group in the U.S. that hasn’t been allowed to establish its own government.