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Hawaii residents will soon receive their ballots for the primary elections next month. While reviewing the list of candidates, besides their first and last names, voters might notice the additional names that some office seekers include, such as their middle, maiden or some other name indicative of their ethnicity.

This well-established election practice in Hawaii is legal because ballot names need not be legal names. Such added or emphasized (listed first) names can be deployed as markers of ethnicity, or indigeneity in the case of Native Hawaiians.

Candidates likely know those names attract voters from their ethnic or Indigenous group because bloc voting — opting for a candidate of the same race or ethnicity as one’s own — continues to prevail in the islands.

Additional or emphasized names are especially important for office seekers whose ethnicity may not be evident from their last name, such as married women or candidates who are ethnically or racially mixed, which is quite common in Hawaii.

More than 30 years ago, in an article titled “Blood Runs Thick: Ethnicity as a Factor in Hawaii’s Politics,” longtime political analyst and retired University of Hawaii West Oahu professor Dan Boylan asserted that, when they have the opportunity, Hawaii voters from all ethnic groups engage in bloc voting.

Six years ago in an interview with Civil Beat columnist Denby Fawcett, Boylan repeated his argument.

“I would like to think that we never vote that way (based on ethnicity) in a multiethnic society, but we always do,” he said. “Japanese support Japanese, haoles support haoles, Chinese support Chinese.”

Boylan had recently speculated in an interview with a local news reporter about why then-former U.S. Rep. Ed Case had just entered the race for the U.S. House seat he now occupies. Boylan noted, “There is a large haole constituency in the state; it’s 30% or so of the electorate. If you look at the five or six people in the race now, there’s not a haole in the race.”

He implied that such reasoning led Case, who joined the campaign late, to jump in, which Case strongly denied. Quoted in the same column by Fawcett, Case countered that Boylan’s remarks disturbed him.

“I don’t go around talking about my ethnicity,” he told Fawcett. “I hope that ethnicity is never a reason to vote for or against any candidate.”

Case was expressing politically correct colorblindness by denying the significance of ethnicity, which might be necessary for politicians to declare in the continental U.S. However, in ethnically diverse Hawaii, multiculturalism as the dominant ideology related to race and ethnicity allows for, if not encourages, the expression of ethnic identity, including when seeking political office.

Names On The Ballot This Year

I sought to determine if ballot names continue as a means to assert a candidate’s ethnicity, and hence to attract voters, by reviewing the list of candidates in the upcoming primary elections posted on the state Office of Elections website, which also includes their legal names.

Many of the ballot names include additional or highlighted names that indicate the ethnicity or indigeneity of an office seeker and thus the continued significance of bloc voting. Since last names often denote ethnicity or Hawaiian ancestry, most candidates did not add a name for that purpose because it would be superfluous, but some still did.

Below are some examples from candidates for the state Legislature and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that illustrate my argument.

In the race for state House of Representatives District 29, which includes Kalihi Valley, Kamehameha Heights and part of Kalihi, the incumbent Democrat May Mizuno, whose husband is Japanese, put May Besario Mizuno down as her ballot name — a move that demonstrates to the district’s large Filipino constituency her shared ethnicity with them.

Mizuno said in a text that Besario is her maiden name and, “my official name as State Representative is May Besario Mizuno.” Her legal name is Joje May Besario Mizuno, but she has been known in past years primarily as May Mizuno.

Also emphasizing his Filipino ancestry in the same race is Democratic challenger Ikaika Hussey, who includes Lardizabal as his middle name on the ballot, which may be from his legal name. The Republican candidate, Carole Kauhiwai Kaapu, used her full legal name on the ballot indicating her Native Hawaiian ancestry.

Native Hawaiian candidates without Hawaiian last names seek voters from their group by including their middle names, sometimes as their first name on the ballot. This is what Democratic candidate for House District 14 — which includes the Hawaiian Home Lands community of Waiehu on Maui — Kanamu Balinbin appears to have done by not including his legal first name, which is Ernest.

Some candidates add names indicative of ethnicity to their ballot name that are not part of their legal name. Democratic state representative Cedric Gates includes Asuega as his middle name on the ballot in the election for state Senate District 22. Asuega is his mother’s family name and is Samoan.

The district includes Waianae, Makaha, Maili, Nanakuli and Makua and has significant Samoan and Native Hawaiian populations. One of his Democratic opponents, Stacelynn Eli, uses her Hawaiian middle name, Kehaulani, on the ballot.

Besides Filipinos and Native Hawaiians, many candidates seek Japanese votes. In the election for House District 22 representing Manoa and its majority Japanese population, incumbent Democrat Andrew Garrett, who has a Japanese mother, added his Japanese middle name, Takuya, on the ballot.

In the open race for House District 20, which encompasses Kaimuki, Kapahulu and Waialae and their significant Japanese population, Democratic candidate Tina Grandinetti included Nakada as her middle name on the ballot. The name indicates her Okinawan ancestry from her mother, although it’s not part of her legal name.

Democratic candidate for House District 35 Inam Rahman Perreira added Ikeda as his first name on the ballot, which isn’t included in his aforementioned legal name. But he probably knows that the district, which includes parts of Pearl City, Waipahu and Crestview, has numerous Japanese residents, who themselves know that Ikeda is not used as a first name by Japanese people.

Perreira did not respond to a request for comment.

For obvious reasons, asserting Hawaiian identity and ancestry is especially important for candidates for trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and they employ the same strategies with their ballot names as do those seeking other state offices.

Candidate for an at-large trustee seat Palikapu Dedman used his Hawaiian middle name on the ballot and didn’t include his legal first name. The same practice was followed by several others, such as incumbent Keli‘i Akina and candidate Luana Alapa. Brendon Kalei‘aina Lee listed his full legal name on the ballot, even though he has frequently gone just by Brandon Lee — including in some of his own past campaign materials.

Bloc voting, affirmed by candidates’ use of additional or emphasized names indicative of their ethnicity or indigeneity on election ballots, would seem to imply the perpetuation of unequal political power in Hawaii, given the varying population sizes and hence voters among groups.

However, the low registration and voting rates in Hawaii provide significant opportunities for candidates from the less populous groups to be elected to office, albeit more to the state Legislature than to statewide or island-wide offices. These low rates are especially evident in our primary elections, so we shall see on Aug. 10 if any meaningful changes can be expected in the political status quo.