August 8 1998
100 years since the annexation of Hawai'i!

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Sponsored by the Koani Foundation.
P.O. Box 182 , Kealia , Kauai 96751

The April Update for the Aloha March is now available in .pdf format on Butch Kekahus Website.

Hawai'i loa kulike kakou!
Stand together Hawai'i!

Queen Liliuokalani.

Unofficial results of the $2 million state-sponsored election leaked out despite a federal appeals judge's order Monday that they remain sealed pending an appeal of a lawsuit that challenges the Hawaiians-only vote as racial discrimination.

Members of the Hawaiian Sovereignty Election Council gathered near the statue of King Kamehameha, Hawaii's first monarch, to announce the results of the election at 11:01 a.m. when word came that U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Betty Fletcher had issued an emergency stay 40 minutes earlier. Frustrated for a second time that they were not allowed to announce the results, some council members and Hawaiian community leaders hinted they already knew the results. Hawaiian Sovereignty Elections Council Chairman Sol Kaho`ohalahala and the council's election consultant, Russell Mokulehua, both insisted that they alone know the results and had not shared that information with anyone.

Council Member Poka Laenui, however, said while the exact vote count is not known, the ballots were color-coded and anyone viewing the process of ballot counting could see ``it very definitely is a `yes' vote.''

``So, you don't need the numbers. It's just a matter of looking at the color,'' said Laenui, who also is known as Hayden Burgess. Several of the 30 election observers agreed that it was obvious there were many more yellow ballots, meaning ``yes,'' than pink ballots, meaning ``no.'' It was not clear if that disclosure violated court orders.

John Goemans, the attorney who sought the stay, said determining the election result by looking at the color of the ballots ``is not conclusive. You don't know if some of those ballots were spoiled.'' It will be up to the federal judges to determine if the order was violated, Goemans said.

Still undisclosed is how many of the 85,000 ballots mailed out to Hawaiian voters starting July 1 were returned by the Aug. 15 deadline. Fletcher issued a temporary stay, keeping the ballot count sealed until the court considers an application for a full stay while the case in on appeal. The appeal was filed on behalf of Harold Rice, a Big Island rancher who has challenged the constitutionality of the state-sponsored election which was restricted to Hawaiian voters.

A second lawsuit that challenged the election was not appealed. U.S. District Judge David Ezra last Friday upheld the legality of the vote and said the council could release the results Monday unless the appeals court issued a stay. At an earlier hearing, Ezra had allowed the ballots to be counted, as long the results remained secret. Mokulehua said the judge's order applied to all those on the election council, its employees and anyone helping in the election.

In the election, Hawaiians and part-Hawaiian voters were asked whether delegates should be elected to decide whether to form a sovereign Native Hawaiian government. The next step is to set up election of those delegates and establish a timetable for the process. Much of the argument for sovereignty and self-determination for Hawaiians focuses on the U.S. involvement in the 1893 overthrow of Queen Lili`uoklanai, Hawaii's last monarch.

``We've waited 100 years. What's another day or so,'' said Kaho`ohalahala in reaction to the order not to release the election results.