Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 10, 1 October 2006 — Voting [ARTICLE]

Voting

Discussing the renewal of the Voting Rights Act with an apologist from Georgia, I was horrified to learn that on the mainland Hawai'i is considered a state that prevents minorities from voting, because of our low voter turnout. This is considered, on the face of it, a deliberate action by a state government to exclude minorities from the polls. Where minorities reside in neighborhoods of a single language, a single color, etc. It is easy to control the vote by restricting the number of poll workers or voting machines. In Hawai'i, there may be people who would like to do this. It isn't easy where there are few, if any, precincts that are just one group. If someone from Hawai'i tried to convince the good people of other states that our low turnout had nothing to do with minority status, they would probably react like I do when someone from Alahama tells me that the bad old days are over. If you support the Akaka Bill, I suggest that you vote. If you are against the Akaka Bill - well, just keep doing what you're doing. Dorothy I. Cornell Honolulu, O'ahu