The state’s chief elections officer would have to undergo a performance evaluation after each general election under a plan approved by the state Senate. The bill, SB 622, requires the Elections Commission to provide the written performance evaluation to the Legislature. It was introduced after problems during the 2014 elections that included 800 ballots that were missing in Maui and voters in storm-damaged parts of the Big Island who couldn’t get to the polls. The Senate approved the bill Thursday. It now goes to the House.
Democratic Sen. Russell Ruderman, who represents some of the Big Island voters, called the bill a “baby step when a giant step is needed.”
“I think we have serious problems in the way the Election Commission does nothing in the face of election problems,” Ruderman said. “I watched them do it before my eyes. I watched them do nothing in the face of a disaster in my community.”
Many voters in Ruderman’s district couldn’t get to the polls on election day because of downed trees and power lines. But unlike residents of neighboring areas, they weren’t given a second opportunity to vote. Ruderman had proposed a bill that would allow the elections commission to remove the chief elections officer by a majority vote, but that bill died in the Senate Judiciary Committee because of a lack of support.
Full Article: Senate passes bill for chief elections officer evaluations | West Hawaii Today.