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With democracy under threat nationally and an untenable housing crisis locally, both Hawaii residents and the national Republican party need alternative voices more than ever.

Yet, as I pointed out in last week’s column, Hawaii’s GOP seems trapped in the culture wars dominating national civil discourse and content to recycle standard Republican talking points.

Understandably, this opinion provoked a few readers who raise an important point – a functioning democracy depends on a competition of ideas and a wide distribution of political power. Hawaii has suffered for years from a lack of diversity in our State Capitol. It’s what brought me into politics in the first place.

Yet, year after year, Hawaii voters reject Republican candidates. In 2022, Republicans challenged Democrats in 80% of state legislative races, the nationally.  

But, as of November, Hawaii had the by far. In other words, Republicans in Hawaii contested and lost more races than their counterparts in other states. Hawaii would benefit from a strong opposition party, but the Republican party isn’t anywhere close.

So, without a viable Republican party, is Hawaii destined to live with the status quo? No.

, which provides aid to support democratic elections around the world, defines a credible election as one that reflects the free expression of the people. In addition to ensuring transparency, inclusivity and trust, a credible election requires “equitable opportunities to compete in elections” and “genuine political competition,” according to USAID’s policies. Competitive elections are critical to a functioning democracy, but competition isn’t limited to battles between Republicans and Democrats.

In 2022, an overall decline in head-to-head matchups between Republicans and Democrats, likely the result of gerrymandered partisan districts, was offset by an increase in open seats and primary challenges, leading to the decade’s highest level of nationally.

While Hawaii saw more open seats in 2022, the last 10 years have brought no notable increases in primary challenges to incumbents.

In most other states where power could potentially shift between parties, more primary and less general election challenges lead to gridlock as both parties play to their bases instead of the broader population.

In Hawaii, our open primary system — in which any registered voter can vote in any party’s primary although they have to pick one party only — combined with our overwhelming propensity to vote for Democratic candidates, means that competition between Democrats is less likely to result in increased partisanship and more likely to result in a broader representation of ideas. Ironically, more diversity and debate within the Democratic caucuses can also give Republicans an outsized influence if they use their votes tactically to influence one side or the other.

Again, I understand that competition between parties is better than competition within parties. But waiting for Republicans to win or for a strong third party to emerge isn’t doing anything to shake up Hawaii’s status quo. Instead, our energy is better spent on enabling candidates with new ideas regardless of their party affiliation so voters will have more choices on their ballots in primary or general elections.

Over 100 election-related bills were introduced in this Legislature, and some of them are still alive. To increase competitive elections, the Legislature should pass legislation in at least three categories of reforms.

Campaign Finance Reform

Changing the way money influences elections is one of the quickest ways to empower candidates, particularly those who come from less privileged backgrounds. While many current legislators had to overcome economic and social barriers to get elected, incumbency automatically increases your resources.

, which would set up a comprehensive system of public financing, is the best tool available this session to ensure money doesn’t hold back new ideas. Whether it frees incumbents from special interests or funds non-traditional candidates, a full public financing system for candidates will help encourage independence and diversity in the legislature.

Voting Reform

Automatically registering voters, nudging those who haven’t returned their absentee ballots, and other voter turnout tools that Hawaii should consider depend on accurate voter rolls.

, which passed the Senate and has been sent to the House, would be a big step in the right direction. This bill directs the Office of Elections to join 24 other states in the Electronic Registration Information Center, which uses secure data-matching tools to identify voters who have moved out of state, voters who have passed away, and individuals who are eligible to vote but not yet registered.

Measures to increase voter registration and turnout tend to gain opposition from legislators concerned about the accuracy of our records. If implemented, ERIC membership could dampen that opposition.

Systems Reform

Among the many bills to implement ranked choice voting and a to ban it, only one survived last week’s legislative deadline, and is currently sitting in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in their order of choice. When tabulation occurs, if a candidate receives a majority of votes, they win. If no one has a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and any voter who selected that candidate as their first choice will have their second choice counted in the next round.

As more states and cities implement ranked choice voting, it’s getting clearer that the system can increase diversity in elected offices, broaden voters’ choices and engage more voters. In 2022, Hawaii passed ranked choice voting for special federal elections and county council vacancies but expanding ranked choice voting to all races through would be the single most impactful change the Legislature could enact to increase legislative competitiveness.

These three changes would make an enormous difference, but we shouldn’t forget that ethics reform, voter protection and other improvements can all help even the playing field for new candidates who can bring new ideas into the Legislature as well as embolden incumbents to attempt out-of-the-box reforms.

If we can achieve it, increased competition will not only serve to strengthen debate among our decision-makers, it will help to hold our leaders accountable and give voters a more compelling reason to vote.