Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 3 - DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND GENERAL SERVICES
Office of Elections
Chapter 177 - RULES OF THE OFFICE OF ELECTIONS
Subchapter 8 - POLITICAL PARTIES
Section 3-177-353 - Party petitions; verification of signatories
Current through February, 2024
(a) Upon receipt of a party petition, the chief election officer or designated. representative shall verify within the time specified in HRS § 11-62 whether the petition has met the requirements to qualify a political party.
(b) Upon receipt of a petition containing the minimum number of signatures required by HRS § 11-62(a)(3), the chief election officer or designated representative shall verify whether the signatory is eligible to sign the petition. To be eligible, the signatory must appear in the statewide voter registration system as an active registered voter no later than 4:30 p.m. on the day of the filing deadline. The calculation of the number of signatures required by HRS § 11-62(a)(3) may use the total of registered voters that had been entered into the statewide voter registration system by the deadline established in HRS § 11-24 or reported as part of any certified election results.
(c) To the extent a document is initially received and subsequently found not to meet filing requirements, it may be provided back to the individual to obtain the necessary signatures or to otherwise be corrected, before being resubmitted. For example, if a petition is submitted and it is subsequently determined that it does not have the required number of verified signatures, the petition may be returned to the person submitting it so they can obtain sufficient signatures and resubmit the document by the filing deadline.
(d) The chief election officer or designated representative may verify that the voter's signature on the petition corresponds with the reference signature or reference signatures of the voter. If the signature does not correspond, then the voter's signature on the petition shall not be counted. The chief election officer or designated representative shall indicate on the petition that the voter's signature is invalid because it does not match any reference signature of the voter.
(e) The chief election officer or designated representative may verify only as many signatories as needed to ensure that the political party has met the signature requirements of HRS § 11-62.