Sawt Falasteen - Honolulu Voters Reject Ranked Choice Voting in Election

Honolulu voters have rejected a proposal to implement ranked choice voting for the city’s mayor, nine City Council members, and the city prosecutor. The measure was defeated by nearly 25,000 votes, with approximately 128,000 people casting ballots against the change.

The rejection occurred during an election cycle that saw Democratic Governor Josh Green secure a decisive victory across Hawaii with over 70% of the vote. In Honolulu, where more than 65% of the state’s registered voters reside, the margin against ranked choice voting was significant. Nearly 128,000 people voted no, representing more than half of those who cast ballots on the question. This margin exceeded the total number of votes received by Green’s Republican gubernatorial opponent, who garnered fewer than 70,000 votes statewide.

Question 5 would have fundamentally altered how Honolulu selects its local officials. Under the current system, a candidate who wins a majority in the August primary takes office outright. If no candidate achieves a majority, the top two candidates advance to a November runoff. Races with only two candidates proceed directly to November. The proposed change would have replaced this structure, requiring voters to rank up to five candidates in most contested races.

The new system was scheduled to take effect no earlier than 2032. Under ranked choice voting, if no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated. Their votes are redistributed to the next ranked candidate on those ballots. This process repeats until one candidate holds a majority of the remaining active ballots.

Supporters of the measure argued that consolidating elections into November would increase voter turnout, noting that August primaries typically draw fewer participants. However, research from the University of Hawaii did not demonstrate that ranked choice voting itself increases turnout. Critics pointed out that Honolulu already possesses a mechanism to ensure majority winners through its existing runoff system.

A central point of contention involved ballot exhaustion. Under ranked choice rules, if a voter does not rank every candidate and all marked candidates are eliminated, the ballot ceases to count. Opponents described this as disenfranchisement, arguing that a winner could claim a majority of active ballots without securing a majority of all votes cast.

While Hawaii already utilizes ranked choice voting in certain special elections, Question 5 sought to extend the system to regular city elections. Other charter amendments passed during the election, but the proposal to rewire the electoral process did not. The result indicates that voters were willing to support other changes while refusing an election system where some ballots stop counting before the final tally.

B.Khalifa--SF-PST