Hawaii Supreme Court Tosses Candidate’s Election Complaint
UPDATED 8/28/12 3:50 p.m.
The Hawaii Supreme Court has dismissed the election complaint filed Aug. 16 by Honolulu City Council candidate Martin Han.
The court’s eight-page decision issued Monday said Han failed to prove that his opponent in the District 7 race, state Rep. Joey Manahan, intimidated voters as they filled out absentee ballots in their homes.
“An election contest cannot be based upon mere belief or indefinite information,” the five justices wrote in their ruling. The court said the possibility that an unusually high amount of absentee ballots in Precinct 30-02 may indicate voter fraud does not demonstrate that the results of the primary election would have changed.
The high court also dismissed Han’s claim that Manahan’s campaign signs on display within the prohibited 200-foot perimeter at two polling places in the Kalihi area were enough to sway the outcome.
UPDATED Han said Tuesday that he was disappointed in the court’s decision, but plans to keep working hard to serve the residents of his district.
Six days just wasn’t enough to compile as detailed a case as the court apparently wanted, Han said. He added that if there was an opportunity to present the case, he could demonstrate a pattern of illegal campaigning.
“I’m disappointed, but proud that we got people to start talking again,” Han said. “We got the spotlight to talk about this not-really-talked-about issue in terms of how some people conduct politics in District 7.”
Going forward, Han said the campaign will evaluate its options in terms of whether to try to take the case further.
Manahan won the Aug. 11 primary election with 51 percent of the overall vote. Han finished second with 25 percent and Lillian Hong was third with 13 percent.
Under , the 1,586 blank and invalid votes are not counted in determining whether someone topped the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a run-off in the Nov. 6 general election. Looking only at valid votes, Manahan won outright by 7.5 percent, or 1,870 votes.
The court also slammed Han, whose attorney Teresa Morrison filed the election complaint, for not also naming the city clerk — “a necessary and indispensable party” — as a defendant.
The defendants named in the complaint were Manahan, Hawaii Chief Election Officer Scott Nago and Romy Cachola, a term-limited city council member running for the state House. Han said Cachola, like Manahan, intimidated residents in their homes by watching them fill out their ballots and then insisting on mailing them.
Cachola and Manahan have denied the allegations of voter intimidation. They could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
Only Nago responded to the court summons after Han filed his complaint. His attorney filed a motion to dismiss, court records show.
Cachola and Manahan were served with the complaint and summons Friday and Saturday, respectively. The court said in its ruling that the time for them to respond had not yet expired, but neither response was necessary to the resolution of the election complaint.
Ultimately, the justices said, Han failed to provide enough specific evidence to warrant a decision in his favor. Han did not name anyone who experienced the alleged voter intimidation, but Civil Beat has reported an incident involving Cachola.
“It is not sufficient for a plaintiff challenging an election to allege a poorly run and inadequately supervised election process that evinces room for abuse or possibilities of fraud,” the court wrote.
Han did not respond to a message seeking comment Monday evening.
Read the Supreme Court’s decision here:
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