§11-15 Application to register. (a) Any person qualified to and desiring to register as a voter in any county shall make and subscribe to an application in the form of an affidavit.
The affidavit shall contain the following information:
(1) Name;
(2) Social security number;
(3) Date of birth;
(4) Residence, including mailing address;
(5) That the residence stated in the affidavit is not simply because of the person's presence in the State, but that the residence was acquired with the intent to make Hawaii the person's legal residence with all the accompanying obligations therein; and
(6) That the person is a citizen.
An application to register to vote shall include a space to request a permanent absentee ballot.
(b) The applicant shall swear to the truth of the allegations by self-subscribing affirmation in the affidavit on application for voter registration or other form prescribed by the chief election officer. Unless contested by a qualified voter, the clerk may accept, as prima facie evidence, the allegation of the applicant in information required in the affidavit in subsection (a)(5). In any other case where the clerk shall so desire or believe the same to be expedient, the clerk may demand that the applicant furnish substantiating evidence to the allegations of the applicant's application.
(c) The applicant shall then affix the applicant's signature to the affidavit. In the case where an applicant is unable to write for the reason of illiteracy, blindness, or other physical disability, the applicant's mark shall be witnessed by another person who shall sign the affidavit in the space provided. A voter having once been registered shall not be required to register again for any succeeding election, except as provided in this chapter. Affidavits approved by the clerk shall thereupon be numbered appropriately, filed by the clerk, and kept available for election or government purposes in accordance with procedures established by section 11-97. Approved voter registration transactions conducted through the online voter registration system established pursuant to section 11-15.3 shall be assigned a transaction number in a manner that is substantially similar to the numbering of affidavits.
(d) The clerk may designate a subordinate or subordinates to act in the clerk's place in all matters covered by this section, except that no candidate shall be eligible to serve as a subordinate. [L 1970, c 26, pt of §2; am L 1973, c 217, §1(f); am L 1974, c 34, §1(a); am L 1976, c 106, §1(4); am L 1979, c 196, §4; am L 1981, c 107, §1 and c 195, §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1989, c 111, §1; am L 1990, c 45, §§2, 3 and c 156, §6; am L 1998, c 23, §2; am L 2011, c 142, §1; am L 2012, c 225, §3]
Note
L 2011, c 142, §4 provides:
"SECTION 4. The office of elections shall continue to use its existing voter registration application forms where possible until such time as new forms are developed and printed by the office of elections to implement this Act [amending this section and sections 11-16 and 15-4]."
The 2012 amendment applies to all primary, special, nonpartisan, and general elections, beginning with the primary election of 2016. L 2012, c 225, §9.
Attorney General Opinions
Clerk may deputize seventeen-year olds as voter registrars, there being no statute imposing age requirement. Att. Gen. Op. 72-2.
Case Notes
Indictment of section dismissed because did not allege challenge by a qualified voter or that defendant had information contrary to that contained in voter registration affidavits. 67 H. 398, 688 P.2d 1152.
Preclearance under Voting Rights Act not prerequisite for enforcement of this section. 68 H. 516, 722 P.2d 453.
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