This is lame:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) plans to file a lawsuit Wednesday to delay a special election on Friday in the two precincts of Hawaii's Puna District that have been hit hard by Hurricane Iselle.
As a result of the hurricane, some voters in those two precincts were unable to vote in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate between Hanabusa and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI). Schatz has been leading by a slim 1,635 vote lead in the too-close-to-call primary contest but there are enough votes in the remaining two districts to, conceivably, flip the race in Hanabusa's favor (even if the odds are slim).
"Fundamentally, what we are trying to preserve here is the people's right to vote and making sure that people know that their vote counts," Hanabusa said in an interview with Hawaii News Now. - TPM, 8/13/14
Here's some more info:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
On Monday, Hawaii's Office of Elections announced that voters in the two affected precincts will get a chance to vote in person Friday, which is a state holiday. According to Honolulu Civil Beat, the results will be announced that same evening.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hanabusa wants to delay the election until residents can fully recover from the tropical storm. She would also like to give voters in two other Puna precincts the chance to vote Friday, and may go to court to do so.
"We're going to have to file something in court, because I feel that what's going on is really disenfranchising a lot of people," said Hanabusa, who told the paper she is still discussing her legal strategy.
Schatz appears to have an edge in the two precincts that didn't get to vote Saturday. An analysis by Hawaii News Now found that Hanabusa will need to "pick up about 65 percent of the remaining votes in those outstanding Puna precincts to beat Schatz. And she was not able to do that anywhere in the state, even in her old State Senate district along Oahu's Leeward Coast." - Huffington Post, 8/13/14
But who knows if this will really work for Hanabusa:
http://thehill.com/...
Hanabusa trails Sen. Brian Schatz by a little more than 1,600 votes after last week’s election. Observers have said it would be an uphill climb for her to retake the lead, since she would need nearly two-thirds of the estimated 8,000 votes in those precincts.
Her campaign is upset that the election office is holding in-person voting rather than absentee voting, which it had signaled a preference for earlier.
"It is unrealistic to think people struggling to find basic necessities and get out of their homes will have the ability to go to the polls Friday," spokesman Peter Boylan said in an email Tuesday.
The Schatz campaign told the Star Advertiser that elections officials in the state are in the best position to gauge how to proceed. - The Hill, 8/13/14
Hanabusa is coming off a sore loser here. Her path to victory is very narrow and I don't think she has a shot here. We'll have to wait and see but in the mean time, lets help Schatz get ready to win. Click here to donate and get involved with his campaign:
http://brianschatz.com/