{"id":2936,"date":"2026-07-23T08:07:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T08:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2026-07-23T08:07:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T08:07:53","slug":"some-deceased-voters-still-got-ballots-but-officials-say-its-not-a-sign-of-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2936","title":{"rendered":"Some deceased voters still got ballots, but officials say it\u2019s not a sign of fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Primary election ballots went out this week to Oahu\u2019s 546,013 registered voters. But some are saying that at least a few of those ballots are going to people who aren\u2019t able to vote at all.<\/p>\n

Read more HECO gives safety tips on identifying utility lines<\/a><\/p>\n

A Facebook post sent in by a HNN viewer said a primary election ballot had been mailed to his mother who had passed away, and claimed it was proof of election cheating.<\/p>\n

Elections officials said it\u2019s simply proof that they cannot know everything in real time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Health regularly reports to us names of deceased people,\u201d said city Elections Administrator Rex Quidilla. \u201cWe match them up with the voter registry and then we\u2019ll remove them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf no one notified them, or if the DOH notification hadn\u2019t gotten there in time, the loved ones would get a ballot for the person that passed away,\u201d said state Sen. Karl Rhoads, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n

Elections officials are required by law to send a ballot to everyone who\u2019s registered to vote.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also required to wait two federal election cycles before they can purge people from the list, including people who haven\u2019t voted, or who\u2019ve moved and didn\u2019t leave a new address. So it could be more than four years before a name is taken off the voter rolls.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople get removed, purged from the list,\u201d said Quidilla. \u201cNorth of 30,000 in the early part of 2025, and we\u2019ll do it again in 2027, after these elections have wrapped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary election ballot envelopes also say on the back, \u201cPlease return if voter is no longer at this address.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on the envelope,\u201d said Quidilla. \u201cIf the person is no longer there, just write it in, \u2018deceased,\u2019 \u2018no longer lives here,\u2019 put it back into the box and we won\u2019t send them another ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers said it\u2019s not a sign of voter fraud or cheating if a ballot goes to a voter who\u2019s no longer at that address, for whatever reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not illegal to receive a ballot like that. What is illegal is if you try to vote it,\u201d said Rhoads. \u201cThen it\u2019s a class C felony, a $10,000 fine and\/or five years in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish we were omniscient, but we\u2019re not,\u201d said Quidilla. \u201cWe relay on the voters to let us know. We don\u2019t want to mail ballots to someone who\u2019s no longer there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Congressional candidates split on support for Israel and war with Iran<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The city Elections Division says it does its best to purge voter rolls, but a lag in data means some names still slip through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSome deceased voters still got ballots, but officials say it\u2019s not a sign of fraud - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2936\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some deceased voters still got ballots, but officials say it\u2019s not a sign of fraud - 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