Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 10, 1 October 2014 — Aloha mai kākou, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aloha mai kākou,

magine you see your dream car and someone is giving one away to one lucky person at an event. The only catch? You must be present to win. Do you stay at home or do you show up and win the car? Now what if you had the ehanee to advance the cause of Native Hawaiians? What if you had the ehanee to protect our cultural resources and land? What if you had the ehanee to make sure we are properly compensated for the use of ceded lands? Would you do it? How? Vote. Vote in the General Eleehon on Nov. 4, and let the candidates know you are Native Hawaiian and that you vote, and that there are issues that are important to you. You'U find they will listen. I know this isn't an easy ask. There are so many reasons Native Hawaiians don't vote. Many don't think politicians will listen to voters, or that their single vote won't make a difference. Maybe we're so busy putting food on the table and taking care of our families. Maybe Native Hawaiians as a group are showing our apathy because we haven't gotten over the grief of the overthrow of the kingdom 121 years ago. But ean we wait another 121 years to let our voices be heard? 'A'ole. This election is very important for every Native Hawaiian regardless of your political affiliation or beliefs. Why? To use a popular phrase, "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." It means if our point of view is not represented at the table, we can't express our opinion and the things we hold most dear could be served up as part of the menu. Some may prefer to wait until we have a functioning Native Hawaiian govemment in order to address these issues, but if we act to heeome part of the solution today,

we will be guaranteed to be better positioned now and into the future. Native Hawaiians as a group have had lower voter turnout than other groups in Hawai'i. Can you imagine what would happen if an additional 100,000 Native Hawaiian voters showed up at the polls? We would be a formidable force that our elected leaders would have to listen to. I know that Native Hawaiians have many different perspectives and we don't aaree on evervthina. but the simnle act of

saying "My 'ohana votes" and following through would mean our points of view must be considered. Then we ean direct what will be served up on the menu - and it won't be what is most important to Native Hawaiians. Therefore, I strongly encourage everyone to act on your kuleana to inspire your mo'opuna to vote. To the makua, please make the time to vote before or after work or vote by absentee ballot. Let us all have a seat at the dinner table. The time for being the entree on the menu is pau. Koho! (Vote!) 'O au iho nō me ke aloha a me ka 'oia'i'o,

THE S I M P L E ACT OF SAYING ' M Y 'OHANA VOTES'

Kamana'opono M. Crabbe, Ph.D. Ka Pouhana/Chief Executive 0fficer