Title: Amsterdam v. Elections Office of the State of Hawaii

State: hawaii

Issuer: Hawaii Supreme Court

Document:

NO. 23916 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I _________________________________________________________________ KAUI JOCHANAN AMSTERDAM, Plaintiff vs. ELECTIONS OFFICE OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I; DWAYNE YOSHINA, in his official capacity as Chief Elections Officer of the State of Hawai#i; BENJAMIN CAYETANO, in his official capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the State of Hawai`i; and appropriate Officer(s) of the State of Hawai#i associated with items herein, Defendants _________________________________________________________________ ORIGINAL PROCEEDING ORDER DISMISSING COMPLAINT (By: Levinson, Acting C.J., Ramil, Acoba, JJ., and Intermediate Court of Appeals Chief Judge Burns, in place of Moon, C.J., recused; Circuit Judge Wong, in place of Nakayama, J., absent) Upon consideration of the complaint filed by Plaintiff Kaui Jochanan Amsterdam and the motion to dismiss filed by Defendants Elections Office of the State of Hawai#i, Chief Elections Officer Dwayne Yoshina, and Governor Benjamin Cayetano, and with notice of the United States Supreme Courts’ decision in Rice v. Cayetano, ___ U.S. ___, 120 S. Ct. 1044 (2000) (concluding that race based restrictions on voting for Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are unconstitutional), we conclude that Plaintiff’s complaint fails to state an election contest claim under HRS § § 11-172 and 11-174.5 because the -2- complaint fails to set forth any cause “that could cause a difference in the election results,” HRS § 11-172, or “change the outcome of the election . . . [or] . . . demonstrate that the correct result cannot be ascertained,” Akaka v. Yoshina, 84 Hawai#i 383, 387-388, 935 P.2d 98, 102-103 (1997). Therefore, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted and Plaintiff’s “Complain[t] [C]ontesting OHA Election Results for Cause” is dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See HRAP 2.1, HRCP 12(b)(6). DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i,