Two members of the Hawaiʻi Elections Commission have abruptly resigned as it is set to tackle one of the most divisive issues it’s faced — whether Kauaʻi County ballot discrepancies that a commission subcommittee documented are enough to warrant a much deeper examination of 2024 election results

When it meets Wednesday to discuss why the state counted more ballots than the county said it delivered, the nine-member commission will be down to seven.

Peter Young, who led the commission’s investigation into the Kauaʻi election, confirmed in an email Monday that he had stepped down. He offered no explanation. His term ends in June 2028.

Jeffrey Kuwada also resigned, citing health problems. His term is up in June 2026.

The report by the commission’s permitted interaction group found that the state Office of Elections counted 661 more votes in the Nov. 4 election than Kauaʻi County reported delivering. The investigation was prompted largely by Commissioner Ralph Cushnie, who has been complaining for at least two years about the chain of custody for ballots and their tabulation.

State and county elections officials released their own report Friday that claims the vote difference was much smaller than 661 ballots.

A review by Civil Beat of the public records, correspondence and court submissions confirmed there were inconsistencies in the ballot counts that raise questions about the management of mail ballots in Hawaiʻi. But gaps in the way the county and state collect and process the ballots make it difficult to ascertain which count is correct, if either.

Michael Curtis, the Elections Commission chair, did not respond to several inquiries about the resignations.

The board has often been divided 5-4, generally in favor of positions taken by Curtis and in support of state Elections Chief Scott Nago and opposed by Cushnie, but the majority doesn’t always include the same commissioners.

Update: The Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday that despite the resignations, five votes are still needed to constitute a majority vote required to take action. A prior version of this report stated otherwise.

One of the most hotly debated issues for the commission has been whether Nago should remain as chief elections officer. The commission has the authority to fire Nago, something Cushnie has supported and Curtis has opposed.

Unlike public meetings for the state Campaign Spending Commission and Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission, meetings of the Elections Commission typically last for many hours and feature dozens of testifiers, many of whom lean conservative in a progressive state and are angry about how Hawaiʻi conducts its elections.

The commissioners themselves wrangle over small details, introduce multiple motions and debate them, and struggle to reach consensus on major decisions. Much of the tension is between Curtis and Cushnie. Curtis, who leads the commission with a sometimes defensive demeanor and heavy hand, defends his leadership, while Cushnie and his allies have called for his removal as chair, as well as Nago as chief elections officer.

“I feel that it’s important to have a full quorum to consider the issues, and they are very significant issues.”

Judith Mills Wong, League of Women Voters of Hawaiʻi

It is unclear when replacements will be named for Young, who was appointed by Senate President Ron Kouchi to represent Oʻahu, and Kuwada, who was appointed by former House Speaker Scott Saiki to represent Maui.

Elections Commission vacancies must be filled within 15 days, according to state law. If that doesn’t happen, the law calls for the vacancies to “be filled promptly” by the chief justice of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, Mark Recktenwald.

The vacancies have complicated the commission’s work at a time when some election observers are worried about whether or not the state has a fair election process.

“I feel that it’s important to have a full quorum to consider the issues, and they are very significant issues,” said Judith Mills Wong of the League of Women Voters of Hawaiʻi. “They need to be considered before the next legislative session, such as the suggestion that more observers are needed throughout the entire voting process.”

In addition to the recommendation for more election observers, which the league supports, the commission’s permitted interaction group has recommended audits of the county and state vote-counting processes.

New Response From State And Kauaʻi County

A report by the Office of Elections and the Kauaʻi County Elections Division released Friday refutes some findings in the permitted interaction group report, arguing the discrepancy in ballots is much smaller than 661.

There is only a six-vote difference between the official record of mail ballots in the Statewide Voter Registration System (27,057) and the valid mail ballots collected by the county, (27,051), the new report said.

Both counts are far higher than the 26,414 ballots stated in the permitted interaction group report as being the county’s figure. The group’s focus on the county envelope collection forms — the daily log of ballots collection — was flawed, as these records were not used for reconciliation, the new report said.

The group should have also been incorporating records of the U.S. Postal Service Business Reply Mail receipts, which would have further reduced the discrepancy, the new report said. The difference between the envelope collection forms and USPS receipts is 586 envelopes, it said.

The permitted interaction group also failed to count 151 valid electronic ballots in its calculations that would have further reduced the discrepancy, the new report said. Electronic ballots are sent via email to overseas and military voters, as well as those with special needs.

The new report also claimed the group relied on analysis that had already been dismissed by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court in December.

However, the new report did acknowledge there was a “significant discrepancy” with the hand-count on the county’s envelope collection Oct. 22. The county’s form for that day initially had no entry, but was later revised to show 3,004 votes in documentation provided by Kauaʻi Deputy County Clerk Lyndon Yoshioka.

But the new report said that the number should have been “closer to 3,421” based on the USPS business reply mail receipts for Oct. 21 and 22.

In addition to the Kauaʻi ballot discrepancies, Cushnie also says that the official state tally for Hawaiʻi County’s election last November is more than 19,000 votes greater than what the county reported collecting. That complaint is under investigation by another permitted interaction group that has not yet issued a report, and state and county officials have not publicly addressed Cushnie’s claim.