HI HCR130

Requests the Office of Elections to convene a working group to study eliminating primary elections and implementing ranked-choice voting in general and special elections statewide.

Hawaii's 2024 primary election had only 32.3% voter turnout (271,345 of 839,618 registered voters), while the general election had 60.7% turnout; primary elections cost taxpayers more than $5,000,000 to administer.

Working group membership would include the Chief Election Officer as chair, the Attorney General, one House member, one Senate member, political party representatives, and public members with election administration expertise.

The group is tasked with conducting fiscal analysis, evaluating administrative and technology requirements, examining voter turnout in jurisdictions using ranked-choice voting, and assessing potential constitutional amendments to Articles II and III.

Report with findings and proposed legislation is due twenty days before the 2027 Regular Session; the working group would cease to exist on June 30, 2027.