Common Cause Hawaii: Voting by mail cannot replace in-person voting

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Common Cause Hawaii program director Camron Hurt was encouraged by high in-person voter turnout across the state Tuesday.
“I’m very inspired by what I’m seeing tonight, and I think kudos to all kamaaina of Hawaii,” Hurt said.
Hurt says the turnout demonstrates that citizens’ voices are heard, but also emphasized the need for multiple voting access points in order to maintain both election integrity and security.
“For some reason, we thought if we went to a more mail-in dominant system, that we would see more votes. I don’t think that that’s true, and I think that you can’t do it without the other,” Hurt said.
“If you’re going to have the mail-in option, then we do have to have accessible and multiple accessible places in person. Meaning, if you look at Oahu, it’s the most populous island in the state chain. However, there are only two places to vote in person on Election Day,” Hurt said.
Hurt suggested changes such as ensuring there are enough election workers and locations.
He also agreed that while mail-in votes save money, the method cannot be used to restrict or cut back on in-person voting access.
“I think they misunderstood how many voters actually take voting the day of, in person seriously, and how for some it’s very sacrosanct,” Hurt said. “So if you take even somebody like me, while I have the option to vote by mail, it would take hell or high water to get me to vote by mail. I would prefer to vote in person, not over any distrust in the system, but simply based off of my heritage and the pride that I have as a Black man now being able to vote.”
Common Cause Hawaii is a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending democracy, from defending the right to vote to advocating for Native Hawaiian involvement and participation.

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