SB2702 Violates Our 1st Amendment Rights, Reinstates Successfully Litigated Sections of the Sensitive Places Law, and Warps the Definition of Election Fraud
SB2702 Violates Our 1st Amendment Rights, Reinstates Successfully Litigated Sections of the Sensitive Places Law, and Warps the Definition of Election Fraud
Testimony in Opposition Due By 10 AM Monday 2/12/2024
The JDC hearing for SB2702 is Tuesday, 2/13/2024 at 10 am. This bill was introduced by Senator Chris Lee, who sponsors loads of firearms related legislation. This legislative session he has expanded his horizons to elections laws.
Testimony is due by Monday 2/12/2024 10 am.
This bill is blatant government overreach and warps the definition of election fraud.
There are issues with the following:
Redefining the definition of election fraud to include “intimidation”
Duplicating already existing Sensitive Places verbiage, and unlawfully reextending it to certain public places that have been successfully challenged in court
Prohibition of photography “without permission from both the voter and an appropriate election official at or near a voter service center, place of deposit, or polling place”
Let’s dissect these systematically, starting with “election fraud intimidation”:
The US Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) defines election fraud as, “The misrepresentation or alteration of the true results of an election” (page 36 of EAC Glossary of Election Terminology https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/glossary_files/Glossary_of_Election_Terms_EAC.pdf). The addition of the word “intimidation” to the verbiage “election fraud” creates a nonsensical term that has nothing to do with the definition of election fraud.
Sensitive Places Law:
The August 8 2023 ruling on Hawai’i’s Sensitive Places law in the United States District Court, District of Hawaii Wolford vs. Lopez case struck down several sections of the law, notably “the portions of Haw. Rev. Stat. § 134-A(a)(9) prohibiting the carrying of firearms in beaches, parks, and their adjacent parking areas”.
This is important to keep in mind once we look at the locations statewide of Places of Deposit.
Photography in Public:
It is our 1st Amendment right to photograph in public places. Even the ACLU and state of Hawai’i Attorney General agreed that it is a 1st Amendment right to take photographs in public, as affirmed in this 2016 case put forth by the ACLU.
Where and On Whose Property are Voter Service Centers, Places of Deposit, and Polling Places?
Since the 2020 shift to universal mail in elections, Voter Service Centers on Oahu have been designated at Kapolei Hale and Honolulu Hale. These are government buildings open to the public. Honolulu Hale is surrounded by public sidewalks where voters often queue up around the building to vote in person. Newscasters and their camera crews swarm the area for the live election coverage shoots.
If our legislators want to prohibit photography without the “permission from both the voter and an appropriate election official” then they must require all newscasters to get this permission from each voter inside the voter service centers and outside in line on the sidewalks.
If our lawmakers want to change the laws regarding photography in government buildings, this is not the section of the Hawaii Revised Statutes in which to address it.
Places of Deposit
For the 2020 and 2022 elections on Oahu “Places of Deposit”, aka drop boxes, were all located in PUBLIC Parks with the exception of the Hales, which had drop boxes both inside the building and in front of the building, at least for Honolulu Hale.
For the counties of Kaua’i, Maui, and Hawai’i drop boxes were located at Department of Recreation and Parks neighborhood and community centers, grocery store parking lots, county clerk offices, and fire stations.
Many of these are public locations.
Polling Places
Lastly, the Office of Elections emphasizes that we no longer have polling places-they even wrote that on last year’s election mailings-so this is moot.
SB2702 is unlawful in that it redefines election fraud to extend to intimidation, reinstates public parks as sensitive places for the prohibition of carrying a firearm, and violates our 1st Amendment right to take photographs in public places.
If you are fed up with this blatant government overreach please login to your Capitol.Hawaii.gov account and OPPOSE SB2702.
