COMMENTARY
Want to get your complaint heard? Vote!
By Caroline Matano Yang
As Election Day rolls around, there will be the usual stories about Hawai'i's poor voting record and what efforts can be made to get out the vote.
Upon returning to Hawai'i 10 years ago after living abroad for 38 years, I was surprised to learn that Hawai'i was near the bottom nationally in terms of percentage of voter turnout. For presidential elections, I could understand why since the outcome is known before we even cast our votes, leading to the "it doesn't make any difference" attitude.
But it is puzzling that this attitude has carried over to local elections, where we can make a difference and where the outcome affects our daily lives. Hawai'i's laid-back culture and sunshine and beaches are usually blamed.
But here are my speculative reasons for low voter turnout:
Why can't the state negotiate a special rate to buy equal time on all commercial channels as a public service before or after the evening news for bona fide candidates about a week before election day? As it is now, Hawai'i's elections seem to depend on who can afford the most signs to plant around the communities and who can recruit the most signwavers at intersections. The candidates know that the average citizen will vote according to name recognition since they don't know much about the candidates.
We're all good at complaining to each other about our deteriorating infrastructure, traffic, the developers who are spoiling our environment, gas prices, etc. But not many complain or provide feedback to the appropriate source, so we keep on complaining ineffectively. Voting is the most effective way to "complain" to improve our quality of life, and it is the politicians' responsibility to facilitate the process.
The expansion of absentee voting even to those who won't be absent or unable to vote on Election Day appears on the surface to be a step in the right direction to facilitate more voting, but it may actually have a negative effect because absentee votes may be cast several weeks before Election Day. This makes it possible for well-organized groups to encourage their members to vote early by absentee ballots and "lock in" the votes, rather than allowing everyone to carefully study the candidates down to the wire.
Hopefully, this expansion of absentee voting won't have the same effect as the presidential elections where voters feel that their votes won't make a difference.
There are neighborhood groups in many countries, including Japan and China, which get together to scream as loudly as possible to alleviate frustrations and tension. Voting is another way to do the same — but with better results.
Caroline Matano Yang is the former chairwoman of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board that oversees the worldwide Fulbright Program. Yang, a former Advertiser Community Editorial Board member, was born and raised in Wai'anae and now lives in Kailua. She wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
