S.C.R. 150 Summary

• Requests the Lieutenant Governor convene a voter participation task force to study and improve Hawaii's declining voter turnout rates, which have fallen from 94% at statehood in 1959 to 37-66% in recent elections.

• Task force must study voter participation rates, review existing voter registration laws and barriers, analyze modernization efforts including election day registration, online registration, automatic registration, and voting by mail, and research best practices from other states.

• Task force composition includes representatives from the Office of Elections, county clerks, University of Hawaii political science/public administration departments, nonpartisan voting advocacy groups, and two young voters selected by the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii.

• Requires the first meeting no later than July 1, 2012, a preliminary report 20 days before the 2013 legislative session, and final findings and recommendations 20 days before the 2014 legislative session.

• Task force automatically dissolves upon adjournment of the 2014 Regular Session.