What are your organization’s priorities and concerns in this election year?
The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots organization devoted to empowering voters and defending democracy. We take that charge seriously at local, state and national levels. In Hawaii, we have a state league which was started in 1965 and within that we have two local Leagues: Hawaii County and Honolulu.
I am the president of the state league and a member of the Honolulu league. As state president, my role is to coordinate between national LWV and the local leagues and coordinate any activities at the state level, such as the Advocacy Committee that works on state legislative positions.
Since this is an election year, both local leagues have been very busy holding voter education, voter registration and election security events. We have held over 50 such events on Oahu and will continue through the election.
The League filed a 2025 lawsuit challenging the legislative process used for Senate Bill 935, a law affecting state employee pensions, charging that introducing it as a blank “short form” bill and adding substance later is unconstitutional. The Circuit Court granted summary judgement for the state; LWV is pursuing an appeal. Any updates?
One of the League’s concerns is transparency in government and public access. In this regard, Hawaii has done much better than most states in providing avenues for the public to participate in the legislative process.
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The state’s excellent website allows interested parties to follow bills, testify and research other testimony. In addition, Hawaii has a Public Access Room that will assist any interested person in learning how to access information and participate.
However, the suit over SB 935 is about a practice that makes participating in the democratic process more difficult. The empty bill was introduced as “Relating to Government,” a title so vague that it could have applied to virtually any department, action or fund that touched on government. The bill’s text was added only after the introduction deadline — after the period when the LWV and others identify bills to watch. This deprives the public of notice and violates the concept of transparency, eroding public trust in government.
Our appeal presses for an end to the use of these “short form” or “shell” bills.
Despite Hawaii Supreme Court rulings against “gut and replace” — swapping out a bill’s text at the last minute, changing its intent without public testimony — variations of this tactic are still finding their way into state law. What is LWV’s position?
The League’s concern is that the public has access to information about legislation being considered, and whenever we see legislation being obscured, we call it out.
Some legislators argue that they need flexibility to meet needs as they arise. That must be weighed against the public’s right to participate. We don’t want to sue again, but if we need to, we can.
Hawaii relies on an all-mail voting system, which offers convenience but also results in issues such as ballots voided for missing signatures. What’s LWV’s take?
All-mail voting is a terrific system. It prevents voter intimidation and allows voters to research issues, take their time and exercise the right to vote from home. Typically, less than 1% of the returned ballots are invalid for missing or non-matching signatures. If invalidated, the voter is contacted and has until five days after the election to “cure” the ballot.
For security reasons, ballots cannot be forwarded when a person moves; however, it’s easy to update a voter registration by updating a driver’s license or going to elections.hawaii.gov. Those without a permanent address can go to a Voter Service Center (open 10 days before the election), to update their registration and vote.
The LWV has held many voter registration, voter education events in the last few months. We are still holding informational sessions on election security and understanding the ballot issues. I appreciate platforms like this that help raise everyone’s awareness. I hope that someone reading your article will think, “I wonder if my registration is up to date?” and then go to elections.hawaii.gov and check.
With national political divisions heavily influencing local discourse and a flood of election-related misinformation circulating online, how is the Hawaii LWV helping voters cut through the noise? What can voters do to educate themselves on candidates and ballot questions?
I agree that the national noise can be very confusing. It may seem difficult to sort out what is fact and what is opinion, what is true and what is hype. But, lucky we live Hawaii.
Hawaii is blessed to have reliable local news outlets on local TV and radio and in print (including this outlet). Media outlets offer candidate forums, candidate Q&As and explanation of issues. The Office of Elections (elections.hawaii.gov) is also an excellent source with profiles of all the candidates and description of the issues that will be on the ballot. And information is available from the League and several other civic organizations.
THE BIO FILE
>> Title: President, League of Women Voters of Hawaii
>> Education: University of Colorado and University of Hawaii
>> Background: Retired instructor, Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii Manoa
>> Family: Husband, Dr. Norbert Wong