Aloha Hawai’i Republicans,
Surely we are all watching the developments of the continuing election challenges and allegations of election fraud in several battleground states with more questions than we started with. I recommend you go directly to each state’s official election site give you the best, most complete information on the vote counts and updated legal proceedings. We also recommend Don Bongino at
https://bonginoreport.com/ as a great aggregator of all the information.
Our Hawai’i elections are completed and will be certified by this week in accordance with Hawai’i Revised Statutes. I wanted to give you the party’s official position on the elections, so you can understand where we stand on the issue. The party has been involved with the All-Mail-In Ballot initiative since before it became law. We provided testimony against this bill prior to the law being passed and in fact, the only legislators who opposed the initiative were Republican legislators. However, since it became law, our party mobilized in force to understand the statute and ensure we could best educate and inform our members of the changes for the 2020 election cycle. This included attending all information briefings, meetings with election officials, doing several Freedom of Information Act requests for data on the voting machines and systems and creating our own outreach to members, Office of Elections officials and the Elections Commission. I can assure you that all our inquiries were answered professionally and in a timely manner, ensuring clear access for our party to fully participate and have input to this new process.
We made some significant inroads during this time. We were able to, through our Republican legislators, appoint two staunch Republicans, both attorneys, to a four-year term on the Hawaii Elections Commission. Their main responsibilities are to investigate and hold hearings for receiving evidence of any violations and complaints; employ a full-time Chief Election Officer; and advise the Chief Election Officer on matters relating to elections. Both have been incredible resources to us since they took their positions.
One of the best things that came out of this process is that we had many volunteers, including myself, who volunteered countless hours to be a part of the process and ensure the integrity of the vote. In fact, according to Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago and the Counting Center Director ‘Auli’i Tenn, this election cycle brought out the most election observers from the Republican Party in many years! This is a testament to all of you who wanted to ensure the integrity of the elections, and not just talked the talk but walked the walk!
This is not to say we didn’t experience bumps along the way. We did. But when we observed things that were suspect, our Republican team immediately raised concerns and they were quickly addressed by the Election Officials. We raised concerns directly with the Chairperson of the Hawaii Elections Commission and the Chief Elections Officer. We had our legal team step in when needed and even ensured the legal team at the Trump National Campaign were advised and involved every step of the way. This ensured the most transparent process for all.
Our work as a party is not over. The All-Mail-In Ballot system can certainly be improved and the only way we can do that is to change the law. I urge you to reach out to your legislator or even our Minority Caucus Leader, Representative Gene Ward, to discuss changes you would like to see. Among some things that the party would like to pursue is the flexibility of having more in-person polling places (requires a change in the law) and having the drop boxes open longer during the election cycle.
The 2021-2022 is an important election cycle for us. 100% of the state legislator seats are coming up for re-election, that’s 76 seats in Hawaii alone! We will have a gubernatorial race, a US Senate race and two US Representative races, among several city council seats. What this means is that we have a huge opportunity. Understanding the dynamics of the All-Mail-In Ballot is critical and we need to start the work now if we are going to position ourselves to win.
This Thanksgiving, as we watch the 2020 Election cycle come to an end in Hawaii, I am grateful to all the candidates who took the time and energy to run for elected office. I am grateful for the campaign volunteers who supported them as well as the volunteer state, county, district, and precinct leaders who helped along the way. I am heartened in the final words of my meeting with the Election Office leaders: this year they were most appreciative that the Republicans chose to learn about the process and stick with them every step of the way!
Let’s continue to fight and change the system through legislation and energize our base to help us mobilize every resource we need to get our Republican candidates elected to office.
Continue to pray for our President, his legal team, volunteers in battleground states who are still fighting to ensure every legal ballot is counted, and for all Americans who endeavor a free and fair election system for our nation. Per the RNC, I am deploying to Georgia for a short time to help in the next steps. I'll be there for Thanksgiving but I know this is important to all of us, and I know that I carry the aloha and best wishes from all of you as we continue this critical fight.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you for all you do!
With aloha,
SHIRLENE DELACRUZ OSTROV
Chairman
