Primary elections: Who wins what? How do you figure?

HONOLULU—So you’ve got the primary election results in hand. So who wins what? How’d they do it? And what now?

Plurality Elections

In the State of Hawaii, all federal, State, and most county elections (except City and County of Honolulu and Kauai County elections) are decided by the candidate who receives the “plurality” of the votes.

Plurality is defined as:

The number of votes cast for a candidate who obtains the greatest number of votes, though not a majority, in a contest of more than two candidates.

Thus, in the elections that are decided by plurality, the candidate who receives the most votes wins the election. In this type of election, the candidate does not need a certain percentage of the votes to be elected.

Majority Elections

For Kauai County and City and County of Honolulu elections, a candidate must receive a “majority” of votes cast for the office to be elected outright during the primary (first special election). Kauai County Council members must receive at least 30 percent of all votes cast for all at-large council offices to be elected in the first nonpartisan primary election.

A majority is defined as:

At least 50 percent of the votes (not including blank or “over” votes) plus one, or a number greater than half of the total votes cast.

If no candidate receives a majority, a second special election is held in conjunction with the general election between the two candidates receiving the most votes. The candidate with the highest number of votes at this second special election is deemed elected.

Rules for the races

In the races for U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, lieutenant governor, State senator, State representative, Hawaii County prosecuting attorney, Hawaii County councilmember, and Hawaii County mayor, candidates with the greatest number of votes at the primary will be the candidate for their party at the general election.

For the Kauai County and the City and County of Honolulu’s offices of mayor, prosecuting attorney, or councilmember, any candidate receiving a majority of the votes wins the seat—no follow-up election in November. If a candidate is not elected during the primary election (first special election), the names of the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes are placed on the ballot during the general election (second special election) where the candidate receiving the highest number of votes wins.

For Maui County mayor and council, the names of all candidates are placed on the ballot during the primary election (first special election). If there are two or fewer candidates, the names of the candidates appear only on the ballot during the general election (second special election). If there are three or more candidates, the two candidates with the highest number of votes during the primary election are placed on the ballot during the general election. During the general election, the candidate with the highest number of votes wins.

For more information, visit http://hawaii.gov/elections/factsheets/html/fsbo105.htm. Visit the Star-Advertiser’s primary election results page for details on each race.