TWO STATE SENATORS REPRESENTING KA`U could be reduced again to one, if plaintiffs win their case saying that reapportionment after the last U.S. Census was unconstitutional. The group of O`ahu voters filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court last Friday, according to a story by Chad Blair in this morning’s Civil Beat. The plaintiffs claim that a senatorial post was unconstitutionally removed from O`ahu in order to give Hawai`i Island an additional senator, leaving non-resident military and out-of-state students without representation– most of them on O`ahu. The state Reapportionment Commission excluded nonpermanent residents – the military, out-of-state college students and some prisoners from the population count for voting. Hawai`i Island state Sen. Malama Solomon and others argued that including the military skewed the population in favor of O`ahu, and left Hawai`i Island and its growing population underrepresented. The O`ahu group appealed to the U.S. District Court, which rejected their argument on July 11, ruling that the state redistricting commission upheld the constitutional guarantee of one man, one vote. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to take up the issue by this fall. The next election is Aug. 9 of next year with the filing deadline July 10, 2014. See more at civilbeat. State Senators for Ka`u are Josh Green for the westside and Russell Ruderman for the eastside.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 23:54:17 +0000
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