Sen Karl Rhoads, a Democrat, introduced Senate Bill 2392, which is supported by Hawaii’s Democratic Party
A bill in Hawaii’s state legislature, which could potentially prevent former President Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 presidential ballot, narrowly survived a procedural vote on Tuesday.
The Hawaii State Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 2392 by a single vote, advancing the bill to the full floor, as reported by HawaiiNewsNow. The proposal aims to grant the chief elections officer the authority to disqualify Trump from running.
Advocates for the bill argued that Trump’s involvement in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, constituted an insurrection that should disqualify him from seeking or winning the presidency.
The bill emerges amid several other states’ initiatives to block Trump, the current Republican front-runner, from being listed on the ballot in November.
Although the bill passed the procedural hurdle, its critics have been more vocal than its supporters.
“This is tyrannical, to say the least,” stated Jamie Detwiler, a resident who testified before the vote, according to the report. “He has not been convicted nor charged with insurrection. There is no evidence of committing insurrection, so please don’t waste our time on this poorly written piece of legislation.”
According to HawaiiNewsNow, the bill garnered over 300 complaints or negative testimonies, with only about 20 expressing support for it.
Senator Karl Rhoads, a Democrat, introduced the legislation because Hawaii lacks a legal mechanism to exempt candidates from the ballot or disqualify them from appearing.
Senate Bill 2392, which passed the committee with a 3-2 vote, aims to establish such a process.
The bill’s description states that it “specifies that election ballots issued by the chief election officer or county clerk shall exclude any candidate who is disqualified by a constitutional or statutory provision.”
The bill also “establishes a process for challenging the inclusion or exclusion of a candidate from a ballot. It allows a candidate’s disqualification to be cited as grounds for an election contest complaint.
Additionally, it specifies that individuals disqualified by a constitutional or statutory provision shall not serve as electors for presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
Furthermore, it prohibits electors from voting for any presidential or vice-presidential nominee who has been disqualified under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
The bill has the backing of the state’s Democratic Party.
Rhoads is a member of several committees, including the Judiciary Committee, the Agriculture and Environment Committee, the Public Safety Committee, and the Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee.