What Qualities Constitute the Ideal RNC Committeeperson?
In "Normal" Times, the Focus Would be on Leadership and Communication Skills. These are NOT Normal Times.
The Hawaii Republican Party Convention is this weekend. HRP delegates will be casting their vote for RNC Committeewoman and Committeeman. A high priority focus for the RNC this year is election integrity-as it should be. The 2020 election was rigged and stolen; this black cloud hangs over every local and national Republican organization, especially the RNC. Acknowledging the election corruption, adjudicating past election corruption, and fighting to improve election integrity should be at the forefront of the RNC and every Republican organization.
In my opinion, as someone who has been entrenched in the fight against election corruption, it is with this lens that RNC candidates should be evaluated. Personality traits such as honesty and integrity are also critical to assess. Fundraising, political experience, networking etc-of course all of that is important, but under the shadow of election corruption, what is really at stake? Without integrity, security, and transparency in our elections nothing else matters.
Wanting to hear from our RNC candidates specifically on election integrity, I sent out a survey on Monday to all seven candidates; Jackie Beckman, Nolan Chang, Garry Guan, Mark Jones, Laura Nakanelua, Sheila Walker, and Gene Ward. The deadline to complete the survey was Thursday, May 2 at noon. I asked the candidates to respond without resorting to looking things up, let them know this wasn’t a test, and to answer “I don’t know” if they weren’t sure of an answer. If a candidate has a weaker knowledge base but demonstrates they are committed to learning, that shows a lot about a person’s character. On the flip side, it’s been almost four years since the 2020 election was stolen; one would hope to see candidates for RNC demonstrate a solid knowledge base on EI issues.
Where do our RNC candidates stand on election integrity? Are they committed to fighting election corruption at the national level with the RNC as well as here at home in Hawaii?
Candidates Chang, Guan, and Nakanelua (in that order) responded. Let’s read what the candidates replied:
Were the 2020 Primary and General elections corrupted in Hawaii? Please describe your reasoning:
Chang: YES. There are enormous amounts empirical data that proves without a doubt that election fraud took place.
Guan: I don’t know. I moved to Hawaii in October 2022 and was absent during the 2020 Election in Hawaii. However, I was in the State of Georgia during the 2020 Election. Furthermore, I was the Republican Nominee for Georgia
State Senate in the 2020 Election and was on the same ballot as President Trump. I knew for sure that the Election in Georgia was totally corrupted!
Nakanelua: YES. For starters and at the most basic level, there was no verifiable chain of custody of voter ballots. And that starts from the very beginning of the process, when OOE gophers go "pick up" our ballots in mass quantities from the US Post Office at the airport. The ballots that we MAIL IN on Oahu are not even
delivered by a federal postal worker - they're "picked up" by whoever's available (maybe a temp worker or intern) and brought to the signature verification center. Not accompanied or observed, just picked up.
As a 2020 Election Worker I observed a lot of the process close up. One incident that strikes me as indicative of the ineptitude of our OOE was the discovery of voter ballots in the transparent trash bags, still in their inner envelopes. Our kupuna do their best but the chatting and poor eye sight doesn't help. I was
invited to "escort" ballots from the signature verification center to the counting center at the Hawaii Convention Center. Nice ride but wondered who escorted them on the other 120 roundtrips when I wasn't around. Pointless.
Next we have BLOATED Voter rolls which allows the insertion of any number of ballots into the system in a mail-in state.
The largest issue, however, is the lack of paper ballot audits and the OOE's absolute refusal to do anything to address this significant need.. They're called for by HRS 1642 to audit 10% of Precincts by paper, but this law has never been followed by CEO Nago. Because of his brazen disregard for the law, all five HRP County Chairs, two EI activist on Kauai (Cushnie & Stanton) and I worked together to hold him accountable. I requested and was lucky to secure funding from the RNC to take Nago to court. The HRP Chair at the time agreed we could file a lawsuit as a party and asked me to take point. We sued and Nago and got him to admit before the judge that he broke the law. I actually thought we were going to win b/c the judge asked the Deputy AG twice whether they audited using paper ballots. The defense tried to pass off the idea that images were "just like
photocopies" and "exactly the same" but Judge Gary Chang wasn't buying it and pressed Nago's attorney until he admitted he'd not in fact audit much at all, much less use paper ballots and did not follow the law.
While Chang agreed that HRP had jurisdiction to bring the case before the First Circuit Court and the Democrat-appointed judge agreed that the law had been broken, he ruled in favor of the State’s motion to dismiss the case, stating that no real harm had come as a result of CEO Nago breaking of the law.
On which sources do you rely for information on Hawaii EI issues?
Chang: -Corrine Solomon (sic), Surfing for Truth, Seth Keschel (sic), Richard Barris (sic), Adriel Lam
Guan: On the Republican Party's Internal Newsletters as well as the public media sources and online web and social media sources.
Nakanelua: Early on it was personal observation as an EW, Harmeet Dhillon, then Lindell, and I learned a LOT from ATV. I began participating in EC meetings in DEC of 2020, giving testimony and asking questions. I sit on the RNC's Election Integrity Committee. I keep in touch with RNC peers in other states and Arizona friends like Kelli Ward and Tyler Bowyer. Doing my best to learn what we can differently to affect an accurate outcome.
How would you rate your knowledge of local EI issues-Strong, Moderate, or Weak?
Chang: Moderate
Guan: Strong
Nakanelua: Strong
How would you rate your knowledge of National EI issues?
Chang: Strong
Guan: Strong
Nakanelua: Strong
If your response was "moderate" or "weak" to one or both of the questions above, how do you plan on strengthening your EI knowledge base if you are elected to the RNC?
Chang: I need to dedicate more time and focus on the local EI issues and processes. I also need to be more involved with submitting written and verbal testimony on EI issues at your State Legislature.
Guan: N/A
Nakanelua: I'll continue to seek out best practices from leaders I trust in the hope of improving my own effectiveness. My hope is to assist with the direction and focus of our party as we navigate the path forward toward November. I'd like to work closely with ATV to figure that out and collaborate to create a multi-pronged
strategic plan for our state. We have new tools we didn't have before and many more organizations that we can work with who are looking to do the same!
In your opinion, what are the most concerning issues in Hawaii elections with regard to security, accuracy, transparency, and overall integrity?
Chang: -Scott Nago must removed from his position
-an independent forensic audit of our electoral system must be conducted.
-mail in ballots must be banned
-no machines, hand count paper ballots
-same day voting
-educate election poll watchers
-only US citizens can vote
-must show Hawaii ID to vote
-clean the voter roles
Guan: Overall integrity!
Nakanelua: Per my comments above: COC, bloated voter rolls in our state, lack of verifiable audits concerns me.
Additionally, the lack of security surrounding our drop boxes is unconscionable. Then there's the issue of Voter ID. Where we have been and where are we headed on this issue is a deep concern as well.
Please list the election related bills for which you have submitted testimony during the 2024 Legislative legislative session. If you don't recall the bill number please write a short description of the bill. If you did not submit any testimonies or otherwise participate in the legislative process please type "N/A":
Chang:-I attempted to submit written testimony on your first 4-5 EI bills. I’m not sure if they were received by the Legislature.
Guan: N/A
Nakanelua: Since the legislative website doesn't keep our testimony records the way it used to, I may not capture everything:
I testified against SB2240 and HB1609. Because I pasted my testimony in a chat group with the HYRs, chiding the Chair for voting FOR IT, I happen to have a copy of what I submitted:
This bill is most concerning. Many, MANY states that have previously filed an application with ERIC have cancelled their contracts.
Studies have shown that it makes state voter rolls worse. The reason for this is because ERIC pulls in data from across the country from databases like DMVs, and in states where you do not need to show ID in order to vote, this can "pollute" or "bloat" voter rolls. Case in point: Nine states have recently terminated their contract with ERIC due to several issues, including privacy concerns with ERIC sharing ALL state databases, even those not related to voter registration, and solicitation of nonregistered people who have already had the opportunity to register but have declined.
A few points to consider:
The large amount of sensitive data provided to ERIC by its member states and the role of the organization in maintaining voter rolls may violate a number of federal statutes,” a study notes. While the Help America Vote Act secures electronic voter registration, there is “no provision in the statute that authorizes any state
to outsource these obligations to a third-party entity.”
The outsourcing by the states of voter registration list maintenance to ERIC may also violate the National Voter Registration Act, which protects from disclosure the identities of individuals who decline to register to vote.
And the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act specifically shields from disclosure the kind of data provided to ERIC by member states to conduct list maintenance.
I strongly believe that if each member of this committee read what is actually in the ERIC contract, they would vote against it.
If Chief Elections Office is present in the committee meeting, please ask him about the benefit of filing an application with ERIC.
In 2021, Mr. Nago admitted that our voter rolls were bloated by 100,000 voters who are ineligible to vote. How exactly will ERIC help clean these "bad" voters off of Hawaii voter rolls. This is the intent and purpose of ERIC but I according to other states' experience, this is NOT what ERIC actually does.
According to an independent analysis cited in a white paper, “states that do not participate in ERIC had a higher rate of identifying and removing from voter registration rolls individuals who relocated out of a jurisdiction than ERIC member states.” It’s worth noting as well that powerhouse states California and New
York—hardly bastions of right-wing reaction—have never been members of ERIC.
I would be very interested in hearing how this will improve our elections process.
Respectfully,
Laura Nakanelua
My testimony against HB1606:
I humbly request that the JHA reject this bill, which requires that any new contract entered into by the Office of Elections for equipment or services relating to preparing ballots or counting votes include the capability to randomize the names of candidates.
Please consider asking WHY this bill is being proposed. WHAT exactly is the goal of specifically requiring that names of CANDIDATES be randomized?
Please be aware that taking this particular step to randomize names of candidates will complicate the process of conducting a manual audit as required by Hawaii law.
The fact is that Chief Election Officer Scott Nago has already revealed in court that the state and counties actually do NOT manually audit our elections by comparing electronic returns or tallies to 10% of our original paper ballots, as required by the laws on our books, passed by the Hawaii Legislature in 2005.
This is the truth about our elections. If Mr. NAGO is present in the hearing please ask him this question: Why do you not follow our laws as they are written and audit the votes against paper ballots? He will likely tell you that ballot scans or images is JUST LIKE the original paper ballot, but that is not true. In 2022, a
small audit was conducted by special request of an observer by Mr. Nago and that tiny little audit uncovered that Brian Schatz would have gained 2 votes more than was tallied electronically. So the electronic tally that Mr. Nago doesn't feel needs to be verified, was INACCURATE.
As our respected elected officials you should be aware that Mr. Nago put forth a bill in the 2022 session that called for the removal of the requirement to check the accuracy of electronic votes tallies by comparing just 10% of those tallies with paper ballots. Luckily that bill was voted down by the JDC.
I humbly ask that you not allow yet another bill designed to erode the efficacy and legitimacy of manual audits to make it through your committee. There is no valid, common sense reason this bill should be passed.
It DOES NOT IMPROVE on our process and will likely significantly harm the legitimacy of our elections processes in Hawaii.
*Would like to note that I also went to the Capitol in person last year (2023), on the day prior to the morning that the Senate Judiciary Committee was going to hear the Nago bill that was written to remove paper ballots from the audit process. I met first with Sen. Gabbard and his staff and they were all very interested in learning what was in the bill. Sen. Gabbard emailed me the following morning to apologize for missing the hearing due to a stomach flu, but he wrote that he would have voted against the bill. Sen. Awa and I had spoken a few days before my visit and informed it was an easy NO vote from him. I visited
all 6 Senators offices that day, including Karl Rhodes'. Sadly, I left his office upset by my experience. He opened our meeting by raising his voice and exclaiming "WE'RE NOT TRYING TO STEAL ANY ELECTIONS!!"
I was warned he was not a nice guy, and it turns out that was an appropriate characterization. I'll leave it there. The bill was KILLED thanks to Democratic Sen. San Buenaventura along with of course our own AWA. Evidence to me that we would do well to reach across the aisle more often.
What is ERIC?
Chang: -ERIC is a system that purportedly cleans up voter roles and registers new voters. Ultimately ERIC is supposed maintain accurate up to date voter roles.
-when citizens discovered G Soros funded the ERIC system, red flags were raised immediately
-within the last two years a handful of States have left the ERIC system
-it is said that the ERIC system is nothing more than another data mining tool, taking our personnel information which in turn is used for nefarious purposes.
Guan: ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION INFORMATION CENTER
Nakanelua: Please see my testimony above. Much of my understanding came from reading other expert's data.
Is Hawaii joining ERIC?
Chang: Sadly, it appears so.
SB2240 has emerged from Conference Committee as CD1, requiring the Office of Elections to file an application by 6/30/2025 for the State of Hawaii to be admitted as a member of ERIC. It seems a foregone conclusion that the bill will be enrolled to the Governor for signature, which I expect he’ll do promptly and enthusiastically.
Guan: I don’t know
Nakanelua: YES
What do you think is a realistic short term goal that can be achieved to improve the integrity of Hawaii's elections?
Chang: -encourage citizens to vote in person, with paper ballot
-educate citizens on the shortcomings of the current electoral system
-encourage more citizens to speak to their political representatives face to face, to discuss their displeasure with the current electoral system
Guan: Our Republicans and Conservative activists must be vigilant and step forward to volunteer voting observations and get involved in all aspects of voting process.
Nakanelua: Visit the legislators and educate them on what is happening in our state.
If elected to the RNC, during your four year term how would you use your position to improve election integrity in Hawaii?
Chang: -I know the RNC has identified EI as one of their platform issues.
-As the NCM I would establish an EI Chair position in the State Committee. The EI Chair would have more visibility and influence on organizing and coordinating EI action throughout the HRP.
The key is build our membership. If we had 4,000 active HRP members, it’s easy to see how your messaging, training, and direction to the masses would activate more members to support your legislative efforts. It will take a little time, if we work together we will get there.
Guan: First of all, if Hawaii has not joined ERIC, I will push for our State to join the ERIC or put enough pressure on that. Hold Election Officials at the State and local levels accountable for the Election Integrity of our State.
Nakanelua: In 2024 I would make an effort to:
Source better tools for our local activists and HRP party members (and maybe HRP leaders if any of them are inclined) to utilize. This includes walk, texting and call apps - with good quality data.
Create a regular cadence of EI training by local and national experts.
Connect local activists with effective and successful national attorneys that can direct our steps.
Perhaps identify national cases in which we could file amicus briefs
Call for a plan on Early Voter Outreach to low-propensity voters.
Call for a Legal Ballot Harvesting operation through churches and community centers.
END OF SURVEY
Mahalo to the candidates who participated in the survey. For those candidates who did not participate, I hope there will be a chance to ask questions of them from the floor.
Good luck, and see you at the Convention.