The empty ballot’s voice

It is the time when the ballots are being sent out to registered voters. Some acquaintances of this blogger have already received their respective ballots, and the distribution will continue throughout the weekend. By this time next week, all eligible voters will have received a ballot to indicate their preferred candidates for the upcoming general election in November.

Hawaii is a mail-in ballot state for both the primary and general elections. One may go down to the county government building (Honolulu City Hall for instance) and submit a ballot there either before or on election day(s) – August 10 for the primary, and November 5 for the general.
PC: “Cook County 2022 Democratic Primary mail ballot” by gabeclassonarchive3 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

In many elections, the decision of who will be the next council member, mayor, representative, or senator will be determined at this point in the election cycle. With only one viable candidate or sometimes only one candidate running, and fewer candidates in general, the options for some races are limited.

And, surprise, the candidates whose names are on those ballots are also aware that the voters might not be too enthusiastic about the choices offered.

So, in races that donʻt seem to be very competitive like the Honolulu Mayorʻs race, you will still see efforts by the candidates to get out and be visible to the public. Sign waving, signposting and mailers to everyone are just a few of the ways the candidates are hustling for your vote.

But moving down-ballot, to some of the Honolulu City Council races, where there is only one candidate, you will still see them working for your vote. For instance, District 9 Councilmember Augusto Tulba is actively sign-waving and talking to constituents.

In one of his posts, he is seen racing with kids through an obstacle course and keeping up with them. Impressive he did that in dress shoes no less.

But the alert reader may ask “But they are unopposed? Why work so hard anyway?” The reason is that every candidate, even the unopposed, has a built-in opponent in every race. And the name of this opponent is an entity called “Blank Vote”.

Who is “Blank Vote”? Simply put it’s a ballot where in specific races, no candidate is selected. The race on that ballot is left blank and thus, counted as such in the final counts as a blank vote.

Now in most cases, with contested races, and even more so with hotly contested races, the blank vote category is very small. And in some cases when the race is not hotly contested by the candidate listed as beloved by their community, then they show support by voting for them, keeping the blank vote tally low.

But in some cases, unopposed or lightly opposed incumbent candidates who the voters are more lukewarm about may show their displeasure on the choices by not choosing in that race. There are examples in the past where unopposed candidates would receive a high level of blank votes. The campaigns took note of this as a sign that the candidate, while they would win the race, had a bit of work to do when it came to constituent and voter relations.

Blank votes also serve as a bellwether as to the viability of a current candidate’s political future. If they seem popular and do not face a “protest vote” by voters not voting for them, then their prospects for political advancement (higher office, different office), are seen to be higher.

A high blank vote against the sole candidate can also signal to potential future candidates that there is a chance to run and maybe win that race the next time it’s on the ballot. It is these factors, and even more, that make the “blank vote” item a must-see item in every poll result.

And it is the reason why you still see the candidates working for your vote, despite the lack of choices in this election cycle, here in Hawaii.