As Tina Grandinetti canvassed door to door in her Kaimukī-Kahala-Kapahulu district last summer, she could see through screen doors mail-in ballots on coffee tables lined up next to campaign materials of all the candidates in her District 20 race.
For Grandinetti, who was in her first race for the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives, it was clear that mail-in voting promoted meaningful civic engagement.
“It works because it’s simple,” she said. “It makes it easier for local working people to submit their ballots, and in doing so, it makes democracy more accessible — more accessible to people who work two or three jobs and odd hours, more accessible to college students who are away from home but want to stay engaged in local politics, and it’s more accessible to kūpuna who might struggle to get around without assistance.”…