In Our View for Wednesday — September 22, 2004

• How we vote

How we vote

About one in 20 ballots, or around 5 percent, cast by Kaua‘i County voters on Saturday, were ruled invalid due to crossover voting. That is voters chose candidates from two or more parties, which invalidated their vote.

This problem could be lessened by providing only ballots for the party a primary election voters is voting for, removing the chance for error. While this problem shouldn’t be compared to the problems encountered in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, it appears the crossover voting problem here eliminated a higher percentage of the vote than did the questionable ballots rejected by Florida officials.

With the voter turnout hitting under 40 percent on Kaua‘i, according to tallies provided by election officials this week, we need to do all we can to improve voter confidence and willingness to turn out.

Having your ballot rejected for voting for two parties is a sure turn-off for some.

Better voter education would help too, especially when the basic ballot is complicated with multi-party choices, as happened in the primary election, and when issues appear.

With property-tax changes appearing on the November general election ballot, voters, both property owners and renters will likely be affected by this ballot issue if passed.

Hopefully, the majority of voters will be educated on this issue, and not just check one or another choice following a first-read of the ballot issue at the polling booth.

As part of our role in covering the general election, The Garden Island will be presenting sample general election ballots with clear explanations.

Watch, too, for increased election coverage during the weeks leading up to the Tuesday, Nov. 2 general election.

With the surge in absentee and walk-in voting noticed this year, we will provide this information well in advance of election day.