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Posted: Friday, August 17th, 2012 9:09 AM HST

County Clerk blasted in post primary report

By Ken Hupp - 67AM KPUA News

The state Office of Elections has released a scathing six-page report on the problems that plagued Big Island voting during Saturday’s primary elections. As Ka`ohu James reports, the findings take direct aim at County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi. In the report, state elections chief Scott Nago said his staff witnessed "poor planning, implementation and leadership by the County Clerk." The report said "Essentially, the County Clerk on election day is supposed to be like a field general with a plan of attack, who acts confidently, and has the support of his or her troops," but The County Clerk was in no way, shape, or form that type of leader." The report also slammed Kawauchi for not knowing how many polls opened late on the Big Island, saying "the County Clerk at no specific time had a handle on how many polling places out of the forty in the county opened late." The late openings prompted Governor Neil Abercrombie to issue a proclamation extending voting hours by 90 minutes until 7:30 p.m. The report said that the polling place irregularities on the Big Island "did not rise to the level of changing the election results," but concluded that they did unnecessarily undermine the public’s confidence in our electoral system. I strongly disagree with the State Office of Elections and their assessment that there was failed leadership, poor planning and implementation by me on Primary Election Day. Yes there were errors that occurred on Primary Election Day. However this is not a perfect system, mistakes will be made and 100% accuracy should not be expected. Mr. Nago is being overly critical and he is failing to see that the big picture goal is to get through the elections. Further, elections require the cooperation of the state and the counties working together and not pointing fingers at each other. I welcome any assistance that Mr. Nago can give me because I do want to do a good job in running the elections.