It’s voting season again.

Starting Friday, Oahu residents will be able to vote online for their neighborhood board representatives using a secret passcode sent to them in the mail. Oahu has 36 neighborhood boards, and over 500 candidates are running in this year’s election for seats on them.

The elections will run from April 26 to May 17.

What’s a neighborhood board? Civil Beat put together a video last year explaining that.

Former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi created the board system in 1973 in an effort to increase community engagement. Vehicle safety checks and moped registration have been among the measures proposed by the boards, according to a press release.

The boards can also be springboards for political careers. Rep. Dale Kobayashi of Manoa chaired his neighborhood board, as did Sen. Kurt Fevella and his opponent in last year’s general election, former state Rep. Matt LoPresti.

Help us hold the powerful to account

As a Civil Beat reader, you know how important it is for journalists to have the freedom, resources and ability to pursue stories that shine a light on corruption, institutional failures and other wrongdoing. Your support today will help keep our reporters on the beat and our stories always free to read.

Give now and help power the strongest team of investigative journalists in the state.

About the Author