HONOLULU – Just 7 days before the General Election, Cora K. Say, wife of
House Speaker Calvin
Say, has acquiesced to the voter registration challenge pending before
Oahu’s Board of Registration.
Mrs. Say, who has lived with her family in Pauoa for at least 11 years but
has consistently voted in the Palolo district represented by her husband. But she
surrendered claim to her Palolo voter registration in a November 1st letter
from her lawyers to the Hawaii State Attorney General.
On October 13, 2006 the Oahu Board of Registration voted 2-1
in favor of Mr. Say, concluding that sufficient evidence wasn’t presented to
justify revoking Calvin Say’s Palolo voter registration. Say claims he
“shuttles” between the two homes.
Say’s claim was bolstered by his wife’s sworn declaration that she resides
in Palolo “consistently and unterrupted since 1980.”
It is important that constituents of State Legislative Districts are
assured that the candidates running for office in their district are in fact
qualified voters in the district.
I believe that the transparent falsehood of the Says’ claim to Palolo
residency for voter registration purposes could not withstand further
scrutiny by Oahu’s Board of Registration.
- Calvin Say’s claim to spend 60% of his weekday nights and all
weekends in Palolo is directly contradicted by utility bills showing very
low electricity consumption and almost no water usage at Palolo. The Palolo
house, in sharp contrast to the Say’s Pauoa home, appears unused most of the
time, no cars , no lights, no activity.
- The unique requirements of Voter Registration residency in a district
are not met by merely owning a house that stands vacant for long periods of
time.
- Mrs. Say’s claim that after coming home to Pauoa, cooking meals and
performing other domestic duties, she routinely “shuttles” to Palolo is
contradicted by her stated consistent need to spend nights with her mother.
- Mr. Say makes the outrageous claim that when his wife “sleeps over”
at Pauoa she must sleep on the floor. This, in a home listed in the City’s
tax records as a six-bedroom house, where she has lived for at least the
last 11 years.
- The Say’s now college-aged children attended Pauoa Elementary School
between 1989 and 1997, lived in Pauoa, but at least one in recent years has
registered and voted in Palolo.
By state law “any person who knowingly votes when the person is not entitled
to vote” is guilty of a class C felony.
The voter registration law is being abused by people like the Says who
reside elsewhere, but maintain a fake “shell” of a house for political
purposes.
The Says have chosen to live as an extended family in a
six-bedroom home in Pauoa and have forgone residence in the smaller Palolo
house they own.
Mrs. Say has acknowledged this fact by relinquishing her
Palolo registration.
The State Office of Elections should fairly consider whether
Calvin Say meets the basic qualifications to serve as a State Representative
from Palolo.
Mike Palcic, a Palolo resident who filed the challenge, ran against House Speaker Calivn Say in 1992 and his wife, Julia Allen, opposes Say in the coming General Election on November 7th.
