There will not be a special election for a state Senate seat on Oʻahu that ended in a tie following the Aug. 8 Republican primary.

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a unanimous opinion in Fevella v. Nago, in which Sen. Kurt Fevella sought to invalidate the result of a controversial Aug. 15 tiebreaker that he lost to Bob McDermott.

Fevella argued in his Sept. 9 petition that because the high court had ordered a Nov. 3 rematch in another GOP race — House District 43 — that also resulted in a tie, voters in Senate District 20 deserved the same opportunity. Nov. 3 is the same day as the general election.

The House District 43 race (Kapolei, Makakilo) between Rep. Kanani Souza and challenger Sheila Medeiros involved similar circumstances, including the fact that two voters in both districts were mistakenly issued the wrong ballots. Part of House District 43 is in Senate District 20.

Both races were determined by a tie-breaking process in which elections officials used plastic spheres resembling Easter eggs and lauhala baskets.

Had the ballots been issued correctly on Aug. 8 at Kapolei Hale and then included in the final vote totals, they could have altered the outcome of both contests, the justices reasoned.

Associate Justice Sabrina McKenna, who authored the opinion, said that, unlike Souza, Fevella knew about the invalidated ballots when he filed his petition.

Fevella also missed the Aug. 24 deadline to file a contested complaint after the primary, unlike Souza.

And, unlike Fevella, Souza also requested the overage/underage voting report provided by the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of the City Clerk to the state Office of Elections, headed by Scott Nago. That report tracks discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and the number of voters in the voter rolls.

McKenna emphasized in Wednesday’s opinion that state law regarding overage and underage reports “is confusing and ambiguous” and needs to be clarified “in order to avoid similar situation in future elections.”

She also said the court did not accept Fevella’s argument that his case was “of extraordinary public importance,” adding that there was not enough time for the court to “entertain” his petition. By law, general election ballots must be transmitted to military and overseas by this Friday.

As part of its ruling in Souza v. Nago, the Office of Elections is promulgating new rules for deciding tied elections.

McDermott, a former state House representative, faces Democrat Marcus Owens in the contest for Senate District 20, which includes ‘Ewa Beach, Ocean Pointe, ‘Ewa by Gentry, Iroquois Point and a portion of ‘Ewa Villages.