Hawaii County Councilman Dennis Onishi has again asked his fellow council members to require the Big Island’s inexperienced elections clerk Jamae Kawauchi to get professional help.

This marks the third time that Onishi has proposed adding his resolution to the Council’s agenda. He sent the most recent request last Thursday.

The resolution asks that the Hawaii County Clerk hire “an independent elections administrator who has five to 15 years of supervisory experience in elections administration” on the grounds that “numerous (primary) Election Day irregularities occurred, including the late delivery of election materials to precincts and failed communications and equipment problems.”

Kawauchi’s alleged mismanagement led to the delayed opening of more than a dozen polling places. Many of her critics, including Onishi, attribute the fiasco to Kawauchi’s inexperience and unwillingness to seek help for her elections-related duties.

The county clerk in January fired veteran Big Island elections administrator Pat Nakamoto. 

Onishi in late August asked Hawaii County Council Chair Dominic Yagong to add the same resolution to the Council’s Sept. 6 agenda. Yagong denied the request, reasoning that Kawauchi would be meeting with Nakamoto on Sept. 5. 

But that didn’t happen, said Onishi. 

The councilman says he has yet to hear back from Yagong about his most recent request.

— Alia Wong