Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 3, 1 March 1990 — Hawaiians vote to be one people [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians vote to be one people

Hawaiians have voted overwhelmingly to adopt a single definition of Native Hawaiian for OHA's trust and entitlements. The definition identifies a Native Hawaiian as anyone who ean trace their ancestry to the native peoples who lived in Hawai'i before the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778. Seventy-nine percent of those voting in plebiscite said they want to eliminate the distinction between Hawaiians with 50 percent or more Hawaiian blood and those who do not meet that requirement. The unofficial results of the plebiscite are as follows:

63,859 ballots mailed out to OHA voters -3,046 undeliverable 60,813 deliverable ballots 19,247 yes votes total 5,212 no votes total 103 blank votes 46 overvotes (voted both "yes" and "no") 24,608 total ballots returned (41 percent voter participation) 79 percent "Yes" votes 21 percent "No" votes

On Dec. 5 last year, OHA began sending out secret ballots to the nearly 64,000 Hawaiians who were registered to vote in the 1988 OHA eleehon. The voting period ended Thursday, Jan. 25. The plebiscite results will be sent to the Hawaii state legislature whieh requested and funded the plebiscite. An amendment to the state constitution is necessary for the single definition to be incorporated into Hawai'i laws. Any new law will require ratification by a majority of all Hawaii's voters. If enacted, the single definition amendment will not apply to the past due entitlement to Native Hawaiians of 50 percent or more blood. Changes in law ean only affect the future, past due entitlements must — by law — comply with the law that was in force at the time. Approximately 41 percent of all deliverable ballots were returned. This high rate of participation for a mail plebiscite demonstrates the importance whieh the Hawaiian people plaee on the opportunity to determine their own membership, OHA Chairman Thomas K. Kaulukukui Sr. said. At the Jan. 30 news conference, following the ballot tabulation, the chairman said, "The outeome of our single definition plebiscite is truly an expression of self-determination on the part of our continue page 8

On Valentine's Day, Amoe Kealoha received a bone marrow transplant and eame through in satisfactory condition. The donor was a male, part-Hawaiian, unrelated, in his late twenties according to Norma Kop public relations spokesperson for St. Francis Medical Center, Liliha.

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people. I am delighted and gratified at the results. The overwhelming 'yes' vote reinforces our traditional values. We have always cherished and nurtured the extended family, the 'ohana. Unlike most cultures, Hawaiians consider themselves literally one people, one family. The vote is a reaffirmation of that concept."