2013 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 2. ELECTIONS
11. Elections, Generally
11-157 In case of tie.

§11-157 In case of tie. In case of the failure of an election by reason of the equality of vote between two or more candidates, the tie shall be decided by the chief election officer or county clerk in the case of county elections in accordance with the following procedure:

(1) In the case of an election involving a seat for the senate, house of representatives, or county council where only voters within a specified district are allowed to cast a vote, the winner shall be declared as follows:

(A) For each precinct in the affected district, an election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the total voter turnout in that precinct by the total voter turnout in the district. For the purpose of this subparagraph, the absentee votes cast for the affected district shall be treated as a precinct. The election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the total absentee votes cast for the affected district by the total voter turnout in that district. All election rate points shall be expressed as decimal fractions rounded to the nearest hundred thousandth;

(B) The candidate with the highest number of votes in a precinct shall be allocated the election rate point calculated under subparagraph (A) for that precinct. In the event that two or more persons are tied in receiving the highest number of votes for that precinct, the election rate point shall be equally apportioned among those candidates involved in that precinct tie;

(C) After the election rate points calculated under subparagraph (A) for all the precincts have been allocated as provided under subparagraph (B), the election rate points allocated to each candidate shall be tallied and the candidate with the highest election rate point total shall be declared the winner; and

(D) If there is a tie between two or more candidates in the election rate point total, the candidate who is allocated the highest election rate points from the precinct with the largest voter turnout shall be declared the winner;

(2) In the case of an election involving a federal office or an elective office where the voters in the entire State or in an entire county are allowed to cast a vote, the winner shall be declared as follows:

(A) For each representative district in the State or county, as the case may be, an election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the total voter turnout in that representative district by the total voter turnout in the state, county, or federal office district, as the case may be; provided that for purposes of this subparagraph:

(i) The absentee votes cast for a statewide, countywide, or federal office shall be treated as a separate representative district and the election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the total absentee votes cast for the statewide, countywide, or federal office by the total voter turnout in the state, county, or federal office district, as the case may be; and

(ii) The overseas votes cast for any election in the State for a federal office shall be treated as a separate representative district and the election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the total number of overseas votes cast for the affected federal office by the total voter turnout in the affected federal office district. The term "overseas votes" means those votes cast by absentee ballots for a presidential election as provided in section 15-3.

All election rate points shall be expressed as decimal fractions rounded to the nearest hundred thousandth;

(B) The candidate with the highest number of votes in a representative district shall be allocated the election rate point calculated under subparagraph (A) for that district. In the event that two or more persons are tied in receiving the highest number of votes for that district, the election rate point shall be equally apportioned among those candidates involved in that district tie;

(C) After the election rate points calculated under subparagraph (A) for all the precincts have been allocated as prescribed under subparagraph (B), the election rate points allocated to each candidate shall be tallied and the candidate with the highest election rate point total shall be declared the winner; and

(D) If there is a tie between two or more candidates in the election rate point total, the candidate who is allocated the highest election rate points from the representative district with the largest voter turnout shall be declared the winner. [L 1970, c 26, pt of §2; gen ch 1985; am L 1990, c 198, §2; am L 1996, c 239, §2; am L 2011, c 5, §3; am L 2012, c 34, §2]