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Editor’s note: Hawaii voters just can’t seem to get excited about elections. Voter turnout is generally among the lowest in the nation. Incumbents almost always win. And this year saw a marked drop-off in the number of people who are even running for office. That’s prompted our “Let The Sunshine In” writers to begin exploring ideas that could encourage people to participate in the democratic process rather than being turned off by it. We welcome your suggestions and a robust discussion in the comments section as we go along.

Hawaii’s upcoming primary has attracted the fewest candidates in a decade.

That’s not surprising, and it’s also not good.

Not surprising because state legislators refuse to pass reforms to even the playing field that heavily favors better-known, better-financed incumbents.

Not good because the dearth of challengers means fewer chances to elect leaders who are more amenable to making those reforms.

It’s a vicious cycle that favors only career politicians, special interests and the pay-to-play culture of island politics.

Our primary system is sick, and it’s time to administer the same strong medicine that’s been prescribed since 2004 in Washington state and since 2010 in California.

It’s called the top-two primary, whereby the two highest vote-getters in primary races advance to the general election regardless of their political party affiliation.

Frankly, it’s likely to work even better in Hawaii than it has on the West Coast. That’s because with the overwhelming dominance of the Democratic Party here, consequential matchups — if they happen at all — occur in the August primary instead of in November when voter turnout is higher.

Moving Our Main Events To Prime Time

Consider what might be the highest-profile contest on the Aug. 10 ballot, in which House Speaker Scott Saiki is challenged in downtown Honolulu’s District 25 by Kim Coco Iwamoto.

This is the third consecutive matchup between the two Democrats. Saiki barely held on to one of the most powerful positions in state government by 167 votes in 2020 and by 161 votes in 2022.

And yet again in 2024, this electoral main event will unfold in the primary even though it calls out for the brighter lights of November.

Then consider House District 20, an open seat due to the retirement of Rep. Bert Kobayashi. There are five Democratic candidates to replace him and only one Republican, who gets a free ride to the general election no matter how many primary votes she receives.

For that matter, consider that there are a total of 96 Democratic candidates for the Legislature and 50 Republicans. As for all the other parties, they total up to five candidates for the 64 legislative posts.

The current breakdown of the Legislature by party is 23 Democrats and two Republicans in the Senate, and 45 Democrats and six Republicans in the House.

Time To Face Reality

The Republican Party has been a political non-factor in Hawaii for a long time, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon as the national party veers farther to the right. The few Republicans who make it to the Legislature tend to support reform efforts, but in truth that’s easy to do when they constitute tiny minorities and don’t have to answer to legislative leaders.

This is in essence a one-party state, and the result is that our Democratic legislators run the gamut from progressive to conservative, from reform-minded to defenders of the status quo.

The point isn’t to squelch other parties by allowing two Democrats to advance to the general election if they’re the top two primary vote-getters. The point is that the other parties are already squelched in Hawaii, and it behooves us to accept that fact and do what’s right for the state as a whole.

Incumbents would likely have to mount active campaigns in both the primary and the general — the way American elections are supposed to work. 

In other words, political parties pretty much no longer matter here except as they hamstring an antiquated primary system.

A top-two primary doesn’t prevent candidates from identifying their party affiliation (Nebraska is the only state with a nonpartisan Legislature). But it does mean a truly open primary with everyone on a single ballot.

The rare Republican enclaves that elect GOP legislators might well continue to do so. Indeed, this isn’t a proposal the entrenched Democratic Party powerbrokers are likely to support, because incumbents would likely have to mount active campaigns in both the primary and the general — the way American elections are supposed to work. 

The States That Have Figured This Out

voters adopted the top-two primary in 2004 and voters in 2010. In both cases, proponents said the change would make their state governments less partisan because candidates would have to appeal to all voters, not just their own parties.

Recent studies of the results haven’t found much evidence that more moderate candidates are getting elected, or that voter turnout has increased. But both states report that they are definitely attracting more primary candidates since the changeover — a healthy result that Hawaii could use after this year’s big drop-off in candidates.

Just four years ago, Alaska voters got even more adventurous in changing their state’s primary by adopting a system that advances the to the general election. This makes it easier for third-party candidates to survive the primary.

Reforming how we vote in primaries could trigger progress in achieving these other reforms.

They also adopted ranked-choice voting for Alaska’s November races, in which voters rank the candidates from top choice on down. If no one receives a majority, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their supporters’ second choices are then counted. This process continues in subsequent rounds until someone achieves a majority.

The Hawaii Legislature approved a plan in 2022 to , but only in the case of special elections for federal offices or county council posts.

It was a modest step, but still promising. Unfortunately, legislators rejected a much more significant election reform the last two sessions that would have established full public campaign financing for candidates who chose to participate.

Other major reform proposals have also languished in Hawaii, including legislative term limits and joining every other state in the nation’s West in offering the public the right to go over lawmakers’ heads through a statewide citizens initiative process.

Reforming how we vote in primaries could trigger progress in achieving these other reforms.

At a minimum, it would inject some life into election season and encourage more people to run for office.