Haw. Rev. Stat. § 19-3

Current through the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 19-3 - Election frauds

The following persons shall be deemed guilty of an election fraud:

(1) Every person who, directly or indirectly, personally or through another, gives, procures, or lends, or agrees or offers to give, procure, or lend, or who endeavors to procure, any money or office or place of employment or valuable consideration to or for any elector, person for an elector, person in order to induce any elector to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for any particular person or party, or who does any such act on account of any person having voted or refrained from voting for any particular person at any election;

(2) Every person who advances or pays, or causes to be paid, any money to, or to the use of, any other person, with the intent that the money, or any part thereof, shall be expended in bribery at any election, or for any purpose connected with or incidental to any election; or who knowingly pays or causes to be paid any money to any person in the discharge or repayment of any money wholly or partly expended in bribery at any election, or for any purpose connected with or incidental to any election;

(3) Every elector who, before, during, or after any election, directly or indirectly, personally or through another, receives, agrees, or contracts for any money, gift, loan, or valuable consideration, office, place, or employment for oneself or any other person for voting or agreeing to vote, or for refraining to vote or agreeing to refrain from voting, or for voting or refraining to vote for any particular person or party;

(4) Every person who, directly or indirectly, personally or through another, makes use of, or threatens to make use of, any force, violence, or restraint; or inflicts or threatens to inflict any injury, damage, or loss in any manner, or in any way practices intimidation upon or against any person in order to induce or compel the person to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for any particular person or party, at any election, or on account of the person having voted or refrained from voting, or voted or refrained from voting for any particular person or party; or who by abduction, distress, or any device or contrivance impedes, prevents, or otherwise interferes with the free exercise of the elective franchise;

(5) Every person who, at any election, votes or attempts to vote in the name of any other person, living or dead, or in some fictitious name, or who votes or attempts to vote more than once during any election, regardless of whether one of the elections is in a state or territory of the United States outside of Hawaii, or knowingly gives or attempts to give more than one ballot for the same office at one time of voting; provided that a person does not commit an election fraud if the person votes once in Hawaii's primary election and also votes in the primary election of another state or territory during the same year, so long as the person was properly registered to vote in all such elections. For the purposes of this paragraph, a person is properly registered to vote if the person's residence in the state in which they are currently voting was acquired with the intent to make that state their legal residence with all the accompanying obligations therein, and if, at the time of voting, that person is registered to vote with the office of elections of the state in which they are voting;

(6) Every person who, before or during an election, knowingly publishes a false statement of the withdrawal of any candidate at the election;

(7) Every person who induces or procures any person to withdraw from being a candidate at an election in consideration of any payment or gift or valuable consideration; or of any threat; and every candidate who withdraws from being a candidate in pursuance of such inducement or procurement;

(8) Every public officer by law required to do or perform any act or thing with reference to any of the provisions in any law concerning elections who wilfully fails, neglects, or refuses to do or perform the same, or who is guilty of any wilful violation of any of the provisions thereof;

(9) Any person wilfully tampering or attempting to tamper with, disarrange, deface, or impair in any manner whatsoever, or destroy, any voting machine while the same is in use at any election, or who, after the machine is locked in order to preserve the registration or record of any election made by the same, tampers or attempts to tamper with any voting machine;

(10) Every person who, directly or indirectly, personally or through another, wilfully designs, alters, accesses, or programs any electronic voting system to cause the system to inaccurately record, tally, or report votes cast on the electronic voting system;

(11) Every person who assists a voter in the completion of a ballot in violation of section 11-139; and

(12) Every person who knowingly broadcasts, televises, circulates, publishes, distributes, or otherwise communicates, including by electronic means or advertisement, false information about the time, date, place, or means of voting with the purpose of impeding, preventing, or otherwise interfering with the free exercise of the elective franchise.

HRS § 19-3

Amended by L 2023, c 116,§ 2, eff. 6/23/2023.

Amended by L 2014, c 128,§ 3, eff. 6/24/2014.

Amended by L 2013, c 235,§ 4, eff. 6/27/2013.

L 1970, c 26, pt of §2; gen ch 1985; am L 1989, c 88, §2; am L 2005, c 200, §2 .

"Or who wilfully performs it in such a way as to hinder the objects thereof" in section void for vagueness.67 Haw. 398,688 P.2d 1152. Preclearance under Voting Rights Act not prerequisite for enforcement of this section.68 Haw. 516,722 P.2d 453.