‘It was gambling’: Historic Hawaii election ties decided by random drawings at state Capitol
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Tied Republican primary races for two West Oahu legislative seats were decided Saturday afternoon by random drawings at the Hawaii State Capitol.
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Election officials printed candidate names on slips of paper, tucked them into plastic balls, placed them in a lauhala box, and shook the container. Hawaii Chief Election Officer Scott Nago drew a ball, opened the plastic lid, and read aloud the winning name.
The unprecedented tiebreakers were triggered after resolved invalid ballots resulted in exact dead heats.
In the Senate District 20 Republican primary, former lawmaker Bob McDermott and incumbent state Sen. Kurt Fevella finished tied with exactly 1,212 votes each.
In the House District 43 Republican primary, incumbent state Rep. Kanani Souza and challenger Sheila Medeiros finished tied with exactly 842 votes each.
The drawing followed Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 11-157 to determine the winner of each race.
Challengers win both random drawings
Both drawings went to the challengers, ousting two sitting Republican incumbents.
In Senate District 20, representing Ewa Beach, Bob McDermott won the drawing. He will advance to the general election on November 3 to face Democratic candidate Markus Owens.
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In House District 43, representing Kapolei and Makakilo, Sheila Medeiros won the drawing. Because there is no Democratic candidate in the general election, Medeiros wins the legislative seat outright.
Candidates express concerns about election process
Medeiros expressed gratitude to her supporters but criticized the state’s legal process for resolving tied elections, arguing that runoffs should be decided by the electorate.
“I actually disagree with the process. I believe that this process takes away, disenfranchises the electorate,” Medeiros said. “We should have gone to the general and had the voters decide.”
Medeiros added, “I think I’m going to ensure that this process either gets refined where the voters get to decide. It’s like gambling. We just chanced it.”
McDermott agreed with the random nature of the outcome.
“It was a coin toss today. It was gambling, right? But I think God smiled on both of us candidates today,” McDermott said. “I’m so grateful and humbled. Just humbled and grateful and lucky.”
McDermott also called for improvements to the state’s signature verification process, which led to the tied results after cured envelope signatures were processed.
“For all four candidates, the signature verification process, the mechanics and definition certainly can be improved,” he said, noting that while he viewed the staff as honest, “you’re matching signatures and we don’t know exactly how it’s done.”
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