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Elections commission PIG report finds no credible evidence of Big Island ballot discrepancy; public demands records
Summary
A permitted-interaction-group report read at the Elections Commission concluded there is "no credible evidence" of a large Big Island ballot discrepancy, but public testimony and several commissioners demanded additional records — including USPS receipts, daily envelope counts and photographic evidence of envelopes.
A permitted-interaction-group (PIG) report presented to the Hawaii Elections Commission found "no credible evidence exists to support the claim of a significant discrepancy in the Big Island general election totals," the report's author said during a lengthy online meeting. Commissioner Jeffrey Osterkamp, who read the PIG's 99-page document, explained that the state's reconciliation uses the statewide voter registration system (SVRS) and that USPS Business Reply Mail (BRM) receipts are incomplete and were never intended as an authoritative ballot-counting tool.
The PIG presentation gave specific figures: the state reported 76,595 mail-in ballots for the Big Island in the 2024 general election and the county's envelope tally was 76,587 — a difference of eight ballots. The PIG contrasted those numbers with BRM totals circulated by Commissioner Ralph Cushni, which the PIG said were incomplete (a total Cushni supplied was 57,553) and therefore not a valid comparison.
Why it matters: Commissioners and public speakers said the disagreement over which records should be used to verify counts has eroded public trust. Dozens of members of the public used the commission's three-minute testimony periods to demand more transparency, call for audits or propose returning to same-day, precinct-based, in-person voting as a remedy. "My vote should matter. Everybody's vote should matter," one testifier said, urging the commission to make records available.
Public reaction split. Some testifiers praised the PIG's detailed work. Judith Mills Wong of the League of Women Voters thanked the PIG and said the report "shows that the count between the state received ballots and the county's count of the ballots was virtually the same." Others called for new action. Several speakers asked the commission to obtain USPS receipts, county drop-box logs, daily SVRS pull reports and photographic records of returned envelopes.
Commission discussion and next steps: After the presentation and public testimony, commissioners debated whether the commission should require daily, hand-count reports from county clerks, ask the U.S. Postal Service inspector general to confirm delivery totals, or seek formal legal opinions. Several motions were introduced — some failed, some were referred for further review — and the commission voted to add an item to the next agenda to consider forming a PIG to meet with county clerks about chain-of-custody and daily reporting.
What officials said: Jeffrey Osterkamp summarized the PIG's conclusion that the county and state reconciliation process (using SVRS) closely matched and that BRM records were an unreliable external proxy for ballot totals. "We find a complete lack of credible evidence to support the claim of a significant discrepancy," he said. Commissioner Cushni and several public speakers argued that county-level chain-of-custody and envelope-count records either were missing or had not been shared, and asked the commission to compel production or to refer complaints to the attorney general.
What's next: The commission voted to place on the next meeting's agenda the question of forming a PIG to consult with county clerks about chain-of-custody processes and whether daily envelope-count reporting can be produced and published. Commissioners also asked the attorney general for a written opinion on a HAVA-related complaint to determine whether the commission must take further action.
