City admits ineligible voters cast ballots in tied Makakilo primary race
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The city is admitting that two voters who were ineligible to vote in the Makakilo District were given ballots and voted on Election Day, but it remains unknown whether that affected the outcome of a tied primary race now being challenged at the Hawaii Supreme Court.
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Error traced to Kapolei Hale
The election error happened at Kapolei Hale, where two walk-in voters from Ewa Beach were given ballots for Makakilo, according to a filing in the challenge from the city Corporation Counsel. Incumbent Kanani Souza and challenger Sheila Medeiros were competing in a winner-take-all primary that ended in a tie.
“I mean, it’s such an unusual set of circumstances and to have a perfect tie and then two voters who shouldn’t have participated, it’s just bizarre,” said HNN political analyst Colin Moore.
Tiebreaker challenged
The tie was resolved through an improvised drawing, which Medeiros won. Souza is challenging the drawing as improper and is also questioning whether votes, especially the two extra ballots, were properly counted.
“When it comes down to a 0 margin, every vote matters,” Souza said when she filed the challenge.
In a response to the challenge filed late Monday afternoon, the City Elections Division said the two extra ballots “resulted from two registered voters in 40-03 being mistakenly issued ballots for Precinct 43-03 at the Kapolei Hale voter center on August 8, 2026.”
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Experts say election worker mistakes are not common but also not suspicious.
“So it would be unlikely that somebody would commit such a serious crime to get two votes with the hopes that they’re going to break some tie. Basically, in hindsight, it looks like there might be some conspiracy, but it’s very likely that it’s just a garden variety, either incompetence or oversight,” said Lance Collins, an attorney with election law experience.
Republican-leaning precinct
Records show that in the Ewa Beach precinct behind Campbell High School, 75% of walk-in voters voted Republican, meaning it is likely at least one of the two voters cast a ballot in the Souza-Medeiros race in the Republican primary.
“This case may really have affected the outcome of the election. But this isn’t evidence of fraud or a conspiracy. It shows that there was human error in providing the wrong ballot to these two voters,” said Moore.
Voters’ choices unknown
It is likely city elections officials know who the two voters were but cannot ask how they voted. According to the filing, “the (City) has no information as to whether one or both voted in the Republican primary, or even if votes were cast, whether they were cast for (Souza) or Medeiros or both.”
Not knowing is a problem for Souza’s challenge.
“And so it’s the burden on the person challenging it to be able to prove with positive evidence that the result would have been different and they would have been the winner,” Collins said.
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The Hawaii Supreme Court is scheduled to hear evidence and arguments Wednesday.
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