ARTICLE XXXII—OF THE ELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES.

 

ELECTION DISTRICTS.

 

§780.  The number of the Representatives of the people in the Legislature shall be as follows, viz.:

 

For the Island of Hawaii, eight, that is to say:  One for the district of North Kona, beginning at and including Keahualono, and extending to and including Puuohao:  one for the district of South Kona, beginning at Puuohao and extending to and including Kaheawai.

 

One for the district of Kau.

 

One for the district of Puna.

 

Two for the district of Hilo.

 

One for the district of Hamakua.

 

One for the district of Kohala.

 

For the Island of Maui, seven, that is to say:  Two for the district composed of Lahaina, Olowalu, Ukumehame, and Kahoolawe.

 

One for the district beginning with and including Waihee, and extending to and including Honuaula.

 

One for the district beginning with and including Kahikinui, and extending to and including Koolau.

 

One for the district beginning with and including Hamakualoa, and extending to and including Kula.

 

Two for the districts comprising the Islands of Molokai and Lanai.

 

For the Island of Oahu, eight, that is to say:  Four for the district of Honolulu, beginning with and including Maunalua, and extending to and including Moanalua.

 

One for the district composed of Ewa and Waianae.

 

One for the district of Waialua.

 

One for the district of Koolauloa.

 

One for the district of Koolaupoko.

 

For the Island of Kauai, three, that is to say:  One for the district of Waimea, beginning with and including Nualolo, and extending to and including Hanapepe, and also including the Island of Niihau. 

 

One for the district of Puna, beginning with and including Wahiawa, and extending to and including Wailua.

 

One for the district of Hanalei, beginning with and including Kapaa, and extending to and including Awa-awa-puhi.

 

OF THE TIME AND PLACE OF HOLDING ELECTIONS.

 

§781.  The election for Representatives of the people to sit in the Legislature shall be held in all the districts throughout the Kingdom on the first Wednesday of February, every second year, at such places as shall from time to time be designated by the Minister of the Interior, who shall give public notice of the same thirty days previous to the time of election.

 

§782.  Whenever the Minister of the Interior shall deem it necessary, for the public convenience, that more than one place should be established for receiving votes in any one district, he shall have the power to appoint two places, and he shall designate from among the justices, tax-collectors, and school superintendents, within the district, inspectors to preside over and conduct the election at such places.

 

TO REPEAL AN ACT ENTITLED “AN ACT REGARDING THE QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS,” APPROVED DECEMBER 31^ST, 1864, AND TO REGULATE THE QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS FOR REPRESENTATIVES TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE KINGDOM.

 

Section 1.  That the Act entitled “An Act regarding the qualification of Electors,” approved December 31^st, A. D., 1864, be and the same is hereby repealed, from Section to Section 12, inclusive.

 

Section 2.  Every male subject of the Kingdom who shall have paid his taxes, who shall have attained the age of twenty years, and shall have been domiciled in the Kingdom for one year immediately preceding the election, and shall know how to read and write, if born since the year 1840, and shall have caused his name to be entered on the list of voters of his district, as hereinafter provided, shall be entitled to one vote for Representative or Representatives of that district; provided, however, that no insane or idiotic person, or any person who shall have been convicted of any infamous crime within this Kingdom, unless he shall have been pardoned by the King, and by the terms of such pardon have been restored to all the rights of a subject, shall be allowed to vote; and no other persons than those qualified as in this section provided shall be allowed to vote at any election for Representatives to the Legislative Assembly of this Kingdom.

 

Section 3.  The assessors of taxes in the several districts shall carefully record upon their several assessment registers, in separate columns, to be provided for that purpose, according to the form immediately following this section, the names of all persons possessing the requisite qualifications for voters as provided by Section 2 of this Act; and if there shall be any persons in their respective districts who shall be possessed of the requisite qualifications to justify their voting, as provided by the Sixty-second Article of the Constitution as amended, and yet may be disqualified by any constitutional reason, they shall note the same carefully against such name on their said lists in the columns set apart for remarks. 

 

Section 4.  For the purposes of such elections, every Tax Collector shall make out an accurate list of the names of all the persons in his district, who shall have paid their taxes for the year immediately preceding an election, within the time prescribed by law, and who shall have been entered by the assessor upon the assessment register as possessing the requisite qualifications to vote, together with the names of all persons who shall have paid in to him their taxes within the time prescribed by law, who may possess the requisite qualifications to vote, but who may have been omitted to be entered by the assessor on the assessment register, as provided in Section 3 of this Act, and in every such case the tax collector shall enter upon the proper column of the assessment register in his possession, the nature of the qualification of the party so omitted to be entered by the assessor, and who shall thereupon become entitled to vote at such election. 

 

Section 5.  Every tax collector shall, on or before the last day of December of the year immediately preceding that in which an election for Representatives shall be held, make out and return to the inspectors of election of the district an accurate list of all the persons in the district who shall have paid their taxes within the time prescribed by law, whose names may appear upon the assessor’s assessment register, as extended and corrected by the tax collector, according to the provisions of Section 4 of this Act, as possessing the requisite qualifications for voters.

 

Section 6.  The inspectors of election, viz: the police or district justice, the tax collector and the tax assessor, or in their absence, agents appointed by them shall, at least fifteen days before the day of holding any election for Representatives, excepting such as may be ordered pursuant to the provisions of Section 797 of the Civil Code, make out and cause copies to be posted at the place where the election is to be held, and at least two other public places in the district, correct alphabetical lists of all the persons in the district who may be qualified to vote, and whose names may appear upon the list returned to the inspectors of election by the tax collector of the district, as in the last preceding section required.

 

Section 7.  The inspectors of election aforesaid, shall hold at least two sessions, of reasonable and sufficient length, at some convenient place in the district, not less that ten nor more than twenty days next preceding the day of holding an election for Representatives, for the purpose of receiving evidence of the qualifications of persons who may not have been previously registered by the assessor or collector on the assessment register, as provided in Section 3 and 4 of this Act, and who may claim a right to vote; and also for the purpose of correcting, when necessary, the alphabetical lists of voters provided for in Section 6 in this Act.  Notice of the time and place of holding such sessions, respectively, shall be given by the inspectors of election upon the alphabetical lists posted, as provided in Section 6 of this Act; and at such sessions any one offering testimony against the right of any person to vote, whose name may appear on the aforesaid alphabetical lists, shall be reasonably heard; and if the inspectors aforesaid shall be satisfied, on such hearing, that the name of such person should not have been placed on the register, they shall at once erase the same therefrom.

 

Section 8.  Any assessor or collector who shall fail or neglect to make such a register as in Sections 3 and 4 of this Act provided, shall forfeit and pay for every such failure or neglect the sum of one hundred dollars; and every assessor or collector who shall make any false entry in respect to any point of the said register, shall forfeit and pay for every such false entry the sum of ten dollars.

 

Section 9.  Every collector who shall fail or neglect to return to the inspectors of election of his district an accurate list, as provided in Section 5 of this Act, of all the persons in the district who may have paid their taxes within the time prescribed by law, and whose names may appear upon the assessor’s assessment register, shall forfeit and pay for every such failure or neglect the sum of one hundred dollars.

 

Section 10.  For the purposes of elections, every tax collector shall be supplied by the Minister of Finance with a form of blank tax receipt, similar to those now in use, or any which may be hereafter in use, but which shall bear conspicuously upon it in printed letters, the words, “Qualified to vote” and it shall be the duty of every tax collector, upon receiving the payment of the taxes due from any person in other respects, entitled to the franchise, under the provisions of Section 2 of this Act, to fill out and deliver to every such person one of the tax receipts so impressed.

 

Section 11.  If at any meeting of the inspectors of election for the qualification of voters, as provided in Section 7 of this Act, it shall be shown that any person whose name may have been omitted from the list returned by the tax collector to the inspectors of election, as provided in Section 5 of this Act, possesses the requisite and legal qualifications of a voter, and shall have requested the inspectors of election to insert his name on the list of voters returned to them by the tax collector, as provided in Section 5 of this Act, the inspectors of election shall require the tax collector to fill out and deliver to the person so qualified by the inspectors a tax receipt of the description required to be used for electors, as provided in Section 10 of this Act; the person so qualified being required to return to the tax collector to be cancelled the tax receipt of the ordinary form first issued to him in exchange for the one to be given to him, bearing the impress of the words “Qualified to vote.”

 

Section 12.  The inspectors of election in case they shall have duly entered on the alphabetical list of voters, provided for in Section 6 of this Act, the names of all persons who may have been returned to them by the collectors aforesaid, as provided in Section 5 of this Act, shall not be held answerable or responsible for any omission in said list. 

 

Section 13.  The inspectors of the election aforesaid shall upon the day of election for representatives, receive the votes of all persons whose names may be borne on the list of voters, and who shall produce to the inspectors of election, at the polls, on such election day, a tax receipt bearing upon it in printed letters, the word “qualified to vote,” which tax receipt the inspectors aforesaid shall return to the owner thereof, after having received his vote and recorded his name on the list of persons who shall have voted; and in each and every case it shall be duty of the inspectors of election aforesaid, to cancel or deface the words “qualified to vote,” before returning to any voter his tax receipt so impressed; and the said inspectors of election shall not be held answerable or responsible for refusing the vote of any person whose name may not be borne upon the list of voters, and who does not produce to the inspectors of election, a tax receipt, properly filled and signed by the tax collector, upon which shall be impressed in printed letters the words “qualified to vote.”

 

Section 14.  If any person shall give a false name, or any false answer, to the inspectors of election aforesaid, when in session, as provided in Section 7 of this Act, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifteen dollars for each offense.

 

Section 15.  For the purposes of this Act, the term “infamous crime,” as expressed in Section 2 of this Act, shall be construed to include murder in either degree, sodomy, arson, perjury, forgery, subornation of perjury, theft, bribery, embezzlement, or other high crime or misdemeanor, for which the pardon of the King is necessary to restore a subject to his civil rights.

 

Section 16.  Any person who shall have been convicted of an infamous crime, and who shall have been pardoned by the King, and shall, by the terms of his pardon, have been restored to all the rights of a subject, shall, before being qualified to vote, be required to produce to the assessor, the collector, or the inspectors of election, as the case may be, a certificate of such pardon, or a duly certified copy thereof.

 

Section 17.  In all cases where a difference of opinion may arise between the inspectors of election, upon subject connected with their duties as inspectors of election, the ruling of a majority of them shall be considered binding and conclusive.

 

Section 18.  Each every member of any board of inspectors of election, required by law to hold and preside at an election for a representative or representatives to the Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom, who shall refuse or fail to open the poll at such election, at the hour of eight o’clock in the morning of the day fixed for such election, or who shall participate in, or be accessory to such refusal or failure; or who shall close the poll at any such election before five o’clock in the afternoon of such election day, or who shall participate in, or be accessory to such closing of such polls, shall forfeit and pay for every such offense a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars, to be recovered by the Attorney General on his own information and complaint, or that of the Minister of Interior, or of any inhabitant of the district in which such offense may have occurred, for the use of the public treasury, and such complaint shall be heard before the Supreme Court at any one its regular terms, or before the Circuit Court of the island on which such offense may have taken place, and all other penalties provided for in this chapter, shall be recoverable before the police or district justices of the several districts where the offense may have been committed; and all persons informing of any violation of this law cognizable before a police or district justice, shall be entitled to one quarter of the amount of the fine recovered from the convicted offender.

 

 

§784.  No alien shall be allowed to vote for representatives of the people.

 

OF THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING ELECTIONS.

 

§785.  The elections shall take place in the presence of the district justices, the tax-collector, and the school-superintendent of the district; or, in their absence, of agents appointed by them for that purpose, any three of whom shall constitute a board of inspectors to conduct the election, and decide on the qualifications of voters.  The district justice, or in case there is more than one, the justice who has been longest in office, or his agent, shall be chairman of the said board.  Nothing in this section contained shall be construed as applicable to those cases where more than one place is appointed for receiving votes in any district, as provided in Section 782.

 

§786.  The Minister of the Interior shall provide, at the expense of the Government; a suitable ballot-box, or boxes, for each election district, with suitable locks and keys for fastening the same. 

 

§787.  Every board of inspectors in any district shall appoint a clerk, whose duty it shall be, under oath to be administered to him by the chairman, to record truly the names of all persons who vote at the election.  Such clerk shall receive a compensation of five dollars, to be paid out of any Government moneys in the hands of the chairman.

 

§788.  The polls shall be opened by the inspectors of election, and proclamation thereof made at eight o’clock in the morning of the day of election, and shall be kept open till five o’clock in afternoon, and no longer.  The electors shall vote by ballot, and each elector offering to vote shall deliver his ballot to one of the inspectors, who, on receiving such ballot, shall cause the clerk of the election to record the name of the person delivering the same, and shall, without inspecting the name of the person voted for, examine said ballot so far only as to determine whether the same contains more than one ticker, if it do not, he shall place it in the ballot box, but if it do, he shall make it manifest, and reject the same; provided always, that it shall be the privilege of any elector voting at any such elections, to enclose his ballot in a sealed envelope, before delivering the same to the inspectors of election, as hereinbefore provided, the same being subject to the provisions of Sections 794, 795 and 807 of the Civil Code.  The ballots, after having been placed in the ballot box, shall not be removed from such box until the same are taken out to be sorted and counted by the inspectors.

 

TO AMEND CHAPTER 86 OF THE PENAL CODE, “REGARDING THE QUALIFICATION OF ELECTORS,” BY ADDING A NEW SECTION TO BE NUMBERED 17a. 

 

Section 1.  Chapter 86 of the Penal Code, regarding the qualification of electors shall be, and the same is hereby amended by adding the following section to be inserted after Section 17, and to be designated Section 17a:

 

“Section 17a.  The inspectors of election shall previously to opening the polls, set apart a sufficient space around the polling place to prevent persons not thereto authorized from interfering with the conduct of the election, and no person other than the inspectors of election, their clerk and any electors not exceeding six in number being actually engaged in voting, to be designated if necessary by the presiding officer, shall be permitted at any one time to enter or remain within the polling room or the space so set apart during the taking of the poll.” 

 

§789.  The ballot shall be a paper ticket, which shall contain written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, the name or names of the person or persons, for whom the elector votes.  After the close of the polls, the inspectors shall proceed without delay, first, to ascertain from the clerk’s record the whole number of persons voting, and then to sort and count the whole number of votes given for the different candidates.  If the number of ballots shall overrun the number of names on the clerk’s record so as to affect the election, then it shall be the duty of the inspectors to return all the ballots into the box, close, lock and shake the same, so as to again thoroughly mix the ballots; the box shall then again be opened and a cloth laid over the same, and the chairman of the inspectors having previously held up his open hand and arm bare, shall introduce his hand under the cloth cover of the box and draw therefrom, without looking, one ballot at a time, until the number of ballots in the box is reduced to correspond with the number of names on the clerk’s list; the clerk shall take a note of each ballot as it is withdrawn, and deduct the same from the number of votes for the candidate or candidates whose ballot is so withdrawn, and the result thus obtained shall be adopted by the inspectors.  All persons who choose to attend at the counting of such votes shall be at liberty to do so.  Nothing in this section contained shall be held to interfere with the power given to the inspectors in Section 794 of the Civil Code.

 

§790.  When the inspectors have ascertained the number of votes given for each candidate respectively, they shall make public declaration of the whole number of votes given in, the names of the persons voted for, and the number of votes for each person, and the clerk shall make a fair record of the same, which shall be signed by the inspectors, and forwarded to the Minister of the Interior. 

 

§791.  In those districts where there is only one place appointed for receiving votes, the board of inspectors shall deliver a certificate to the candidates for representatives in their respective districts, who have received the greatest number of votes for that office, in the following form, viz:

 

We, the undersigned, inspectors of election for the district of ________, Island of ________, do hereby certify that ________ was duly elected a representative for said district, on ___ day of _____, A. D. 18

Given under our hands this ___ day of _____

________

________

________

 

§792.  In those districts where two places are appointed for receiving votes, the certificate of election shall be given by the two persons presiding at such places of election.

 

§793.  It shall be the duty of the inspectors of election, upon granting certificates of election, to immediately transmit a copy of the same to the Minister of the Interior.

 

§794.  Whenever two or more ballots are found folded or rolled together in such manner as to satisfy the inspectors that they are fraudulent, they shall be rejected.

 

§795.  If a ballot shall be found to contain a greater number of names for the office of representative, than the number of representatives to which that district is entitled, it shall be considered fraudulent, and shall be rejected; but no ballot shall be considered fraudulent, or be rejected, for containing a less number of names than are authorized to be inserted. 

 

MODE OF ANNULLING AN ELECTION AND OF FILLING VACANCIES

 

§796.  Whenever fifty or more of the voters of any district shall petition the Legislative Assembly, setting forth that any person chosen as representative for said district has been elected through bribery, or any other unfair means, or that he is not qualified according to law, the Legislative Assembly shall institute an enquiry into the truth of the charges in said petition, and if they find the charges to be true, they shall immediately declare his election null and void.

 

§797.  Whenever the Legislative Assembly shall declare the election of any person null and void as provided in the last preceding section, the clerk of said Legislative Assembly shall immediately notify the inspectors of election for the district in which such person was chosen of the fact of the annulment of his election; said inspectors upon receiving such notification, shall five ten days previous public notice for holding a new election, and the electors of such district shall accordingly proceed again to procure a representative in the same manner as at the regular election.

 

§798.  Whenever any vacancy shall occur in any of the election districts of the Kingdom, either by resignation, death, or any other cause, it shall be the duty of the inspectors of election in such district, immediately on ascertaining the fact, to give ten days previous public notice for holding a new election, at the usual place or places within such district; and any such election so ordered and held, shall be valid and binding to all intents and purposes.

 

§799.  In the event of any such vacancy occurring during the period in which the Legislature is in session it shall be the duty of the clerk of the Legislative Assembly immediately to notify the inspectors of election of the district in which such vacancy has occurred of that fact; and said inspectors shall proceed to order, notify and hold a new election, as provided in the last preceding section.

 

PROVISIONS TO PRESERVE THE PURITY OF ELECTIONS.

 

§800.  It shall be the duty of each inspector of any election to challenge any person offering to vote, whom he shall know or suspect not to be duly qualified as an elector.

 

§801.  If any person offering to vote shall be challenged as unqualified by an inspector, or by any other person, the board of inspectors shall read to the person so challenged, the qualifications of an elector as contained in section 783, and shall tender to him the following oath:

You do swear that you will fully and truly answer all such questions as shall be put to you, touching your place of residence, and qualifications as an elector at that election.

 

The inspectors of election, or one of them, shall then put such questions to the person challenged, as may be necessary to test his qualifications as an elector at that election.

 

§802.  If the person challenged shall refuse to answer fully any questions which may be put to him as aforesaid, the inspectors shall reject his vote.

 

§803.  If the challenge be not withdrawn, after the person offering to vote shall have answered the questions put to him as aforesaid, one of the inspectors shall tender to him the following oath:

 

You do solemnly swear that you are a subject or denizen of this Kingdom, (as the case may be) of the age of twenty years; that you have resided in this Kingdom for the last year immediately preceding this election; and in this district for the last three months immediately preceding this election; and that you have not voted at this election; and that you have never been convicted of any infamous crime within this Kingdom which has not been fully pardoned.

 

§804.  If any person shall refuse to take the oath tendered, as prescribed in the last preceding section, his vote shall be rejected.

 

§805.  Any person who shall vote more than once at the same election, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not more than six months, in the discretion of the court. 

 

§806.  Any person who shall vote, being disqualified by law, by reason of his conviction of some infamous crime, which shall not have been pardoned, with the restoration to all the rights of a subject, or by reason of non-age, non-residence, or other cause, knowing of his disqualification, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the court.

 

§807.  If any elector shall, knowingly, give in more than one ballot at any election, he shall be fined not exceeding fifty dollars, or be imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the court.

 

§808.  If any person shall willfully aid or abet any one, in the commission of either of the offenses specified in the last three preceding sections, he shall be fined not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the court.

 

§809.  Any person who shall, by bribing another with money, promise of reward, or otherwise, attempt to influence any elector in giving his ballot; or who shall use any threat to procure any elector to vote contrary to the inclination of any such elector, or to deter him from giving his ballot, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the court.

 

§810.  It shall be the duty of the inspectors of election, or one of them, immediately before proclamation is made of the opening of the polls, to open the ballot-box, in the presence of the people there assembled, and turn it upside down, so as to empty it of everything that may be in it, and then lock it; and it shall not be re-opened, until the close of the polls, for the purpose of counting the ballots therein. 

 

§811.  Any inspector of an election who shall, after the opening of the polls, put a ballot into the ballot-box, except his own ballot, or such as he may have received in the regular discharge of his duty; or who shall be guilty of any other fraud or unfair dealing at such election, shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, and disqualified from holding any office under the Government.

 

§812.  Any inspector of election, who shall willfully neglect, or refuse, to perform any of the duties required of him, respecting elections, shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, and be disqualified from holding any office under the Government.

 

§813.  Any person who shall be disorderly or create any disturbance at any election, or who shall break up, or prevent, the lawful holding of any election, or obstruct, or attempt to obstruct the same, may be arrested without warrant, and shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor, not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the court.

 

§814.  No civil process shall be served in any district on any person entitled to vote therein, on the day of the election for representatives.

 

 

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