By PETER SUR By PETER SUR ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald staff writer The county Office of Elections was closed Monday for a manual check of its more than 101,000 registered voters and to weed out any irregularities. But with no advance notice
By PETER SUR
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The county Office of Elections was closed Monday for a manual check of its more than 101,000 registered voters and to weed out any irregularities.
But with no advance notice or explanation, and only a cryptic sign on the door that the office was closed “for auditing,” speculation quickly arose around political circles that something more insidious was occurring. Phone calls were referred to the Kona office, and the council staff was handling walk-ins for the day.
Who was doing the auditing, and why? At least one other news outlet checked with the legislative auditor’s office and the state Elections Office and came up empty. The truth turned out to be more mundane.
“Right now, what we’re doing is we’re just checking the registry,” Kawauchi said at the end of a long day of meetings.
Kawauchi acknowledged that it was unusual for the county Elections Office to close for an audit so close to the election, but she said it had to be done after the deadline to register to vote. The office is expected to reopen today.
“There’s no election that’s going to be problem-free,” Kawauchi said, although this year the office is under a microscope because of the high-profile firing of several elections office workers, including its administrator, following an investigation that alleged drinking, storage of alcohol and running a private business out of the county elections warehouse.
One of the workers, Elton Nakagawa, was seen exiting a meeting in the County Council meeting room with Kawauchi and other employees after apparently being reinstated. Kawauchi, who oversees the Elections Office, has maintained that she cannot comment on a personnel matter.
With the audit going into its third day on Monday night, elections officials have found nothing irregular.
“So far, nothing to report,” Kawauchi said. Asked about reports that some of the yellow cards that were mailed out to registered voters with incorrect information, the clerk said there was one instance where a data merge mixed up two roads with the “street” and an “avenue,” and pulled the wrong ZIP code.
“We’re doing everything we can to ensure a fair and well-run election,” Kawauchi said.
Email Peter Sur at psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
