The Hawaii Supreme Court rejected an election challenge filed by former Maui County Council member Kelly King and a group of voters who sought to invalidate the results of race for the South Maui seat in the 2024 General Election. 

What You Need To Know

  • King held the seat from 2017 to 2022, when she launched an unsuccessful bid for the state house of Representatives. She lost this year’s election to incumbent Tom Cook, whom she had previously defeated in 2020, by just 97 votes
  • While the margin was not close enough to trigger an automatic recount, King and her fellow plaintiffs alleged that the Maui County clerk improperly rejected mail-in ballots for signature-related issued
  • In its Dec. 24 decision, the court ruled that “undisputed facts” confirmed that the clerk’s office followed state law and administrative rules and took timely and appropriate actions to address ballot submissions that were deficient in some way
  • Cook and his fellow council members will take the oath of office for the 2025-2027 term at an inauguration ceremony, Thursday, 10 a.m., at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center

 

King held the seat from 2017 to 2022, when she launched an unsuccessful bid for the state house of Representatives. She lost this year’s election to incumbent Tom Cook, whom she had previously defeated in 2020, by just 97 votes.

While the margin was not close enough to trigger an automatic recount, King and her fellow plaintiffs alleged that the Maui County clerk improperly rejected mail-in ballots for signature-related issued. More than 1,500 ballots were initially rejected, nearly twice the overall rate for mail-in ballots. Some 594 were subsequently corrected or confirmed during the designated curing period but 939 were ultimately left uncounted.

In its Dec. 24 decision, the court ruled that “undisputed facts” confirmed that the clerk’s office followed state law and administrative rules and took timely and appropriate actions to address ballot submissions that were deficient in some way.

“Plaintiffs failed to establish any error was committed by the clerk in the review and processing of return identification envelopes,” the court ruled. “Plaintiffs also failed to establish a legal cause between the mistakes alleged in the complaint and the final election results because the preponderance of the evidence established that every voter with a rejected return identification envelope was provided with notice and a sufficient period of time to cure the deficiency determination made by the clerk.”

In a statement released on Dec. 26, county clerk Moana Lutey addressed the impact the suit had on election workers.

“While we’re aware that election-related litigation is all too common in this day and age, going through a lawsuit immediately following the immense effort of conducting an election still takes a human toll on our hardworking staff, who work long hours during the election cycle and are diligent in providing voters with every opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” she said. “We are grateful to the court for quickly resolving this matter so that we can proceed with the start of the 2025 council term unimpeded.”

Cook and his fellow council members took the oath office for the 2025-2027 term at an inauguration ceremony Thursday morning at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.