The Hawaii Supreme Court late Thursday issued an injunction temporarily stopping candidate filing that was to start Tuesday until it can consider a petition filed by 11 residents from three islands questioning the process by which the state Reapportionment Commission drew legislative boundary maps.
The residents had filed the petition Wednesday, seeking to pause candidate qualifying for the state Legislature and require the state Reapportionment Commission to redraw legislative boundaries so they more closely follow the constitution.
“Fair and impartial redistricting is fundamental in a representative democracy to ensure it is the people who choose their representative, not the other way around,” Mateo Caballero, attorney for the petitioners, said at a Thursday press conference.
The petition asks the court to invalidate the district maps recently approved by the commission and to direct the commission to redraw them to meet standards set out in the Hawaii constitution and state law, including that House districts be nestled within Senate districts and within congressional districts if practicable.
The court, in an order signed by all five justices, gave the state until March 3 to respond. A spokesman for the attorney general, charged with defending state agencies in lawsuits, did not return a telephone message by press-time Thursday. The agency typically declines comment on active cases.
Other weaknesses petitioners claim about the process is that a four-member subcommittee, known as a permitted interaction group, created the maps behind closed doors with no way for the public to understand why decisions were made.
In addition, some petitioners said, communities of interest such as Waikoloa, Kailua-Kona and Hilo on the Big Island and Manoa on Oahu were unnecessarily split, while some rural communities, including traditional Native Hawaiian homestead areas, were submerged within larger wealthier populations that could dilute their voice.
“This absolutely is not a joyful occasion for any of us,” said Bill Hicks, an Oahu resident who created an alternative Oahu Senate map he said more closely follows constitutional and statutory requirements. “There’s no joy in taking this action. Sadly, it became necessary to stand up in this manner to ensure compliance with our Hawaii constitution. The objective is to obtain better legislative districts.”
Ralph Boyea of Puna, one of six Hawaii Island residents in the lawsuit, also drew an alternative map, this one of House districts for the Big Island. He said some 80 people offered comments and input on the map, which ended up being closer to the ideal population deviation, at 3.7% compared to 4.74% for the one approved by the commission.
“I have a hard time containing my anger, to be honest with you,” Boyea said. “We handed them a plan that met all the criteria, we handed this on a silver platter and they totally ignored it.”
Four petitioners were from Oahu and one was from Maui.
Michaela Ikeuchi, a Native Hawaiian from Keauhou, said she has deep concerns about “the submergence of Native Hawaiian and poorer rural communities with wealthier coastal areas on the Kona coast,” the petition states. Kimeona Kane, of Waimanalo, had similar concerns about his district.
With candidate filing currently set to begin Tuesday and end June 7 , the court doesn’t have much time to decide whether a delay is warranted. But Hicks thinks it wouldn’t take the commission very long to approve new maps, as the “road maps” have already been provided.
It’s not known when the court will act.
“It’s really entirely up to the court how they want to proceed with the petition,” Caballero said.
Several of the petitioners addressed the commission Wednesday, urging that board to take another look at the maps before submitting its final report. But Chairman Mark Mugiishi said the process and the final result were above-board.
“We have heard you. We listened to you. We have taken all the input and we haven’t always agreed,” Mugiishi said. “That’s just the way the democratic process works.”
A coalition supporting the petition earlier this month created a nonprofit and a GoFundMe page (https://www.gofundme.com/f/reapportionment-justice-coalition) to pay attorney fees and court costs. By press-time Thursday, 43 donors had contributed $11,627 of its $25,000 goal.