Hawaii Elections Commission asks legislature to order auditor review of 2024 results, expands request statewide

The Hawaii State Elections Commission voted Thursday to ask the Legislature to direct the state auditor to conduct an independent review of the 2024 general election processes after extensive public comment and debate. The commissioning motion first directed the Legislature to request an audit focused on Kauai and the Office of Elections; commissioners later expanded that request to cover all counties.

The action follows months of reports from the commission’s permitted-interaction groups and dozens of public speakers who urged a wide-ranging, independent audit, citing concerns about chain of custody, reconciliation between county and state records and gaps in documentary evidence. The commission also voted separately to ask the Office of Elections to obtain from Hawaii County and provide to the commission copies of U.S. Postal Service business-reply-mail (BRM) receipts and related accounting for ballots the county received during the 2024 general election.

Why it matters: Commissioners and members of the public said the audit is necessary to restore public confidence after reports that county reported ballot-envelope totals did not align with state-scanned ballot totals. Public…