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I loko nō o ka nui o nā poʻe o Oʻahu, ua liʻiliʻi ka poʻe e koho pāloka ana. No laila i hoʻoholo ai ʻo Kanu Hawaiʻi e hoʻonui i ka poʻe koho i kēia kau 2012.
Wahi a Kames Koshiba, ka Luna Hoʻolaukaʻi no Kanu Hawaiʻi, “ua minamina loa ka liʻiliʻi o ka poʻe koho pāloka ma Hawaiʻi. Ma o ʻAmelika Hui Pū ʻIa, ʻo kākou kekahi o nā mokuʻāina i liʻiliʻi ka nui poʻe koho pāloka. Ua nui ka poʻe e koho pāloka ana he kanalima makahiki aku nei.
ʻO nā ʻōpio ka poʻe e komo nui ʻole ana i kēia hana.”
No ia kumu i hoʻoholo ai ʻo Kanu Hawaiʻi mā e hoʻololi i kēia mea minamina kūʻiʻo no HawaiʻI ma o ka hoʻokaʻaʻike ʻana i nā kānaka no nā hānana koho pākola.
“ʻO ke kūkulu ʻana i kahi Hawaiʻi kūʻokoʻa, aloha, a holu ka nuʻukia o Kanu Hawaiʻi. I kēia makahiki ua manaʻo mākou e hoʻolaulā i ka manaʻo mai ‘I Will’ iā ‘We Will.’ Me ia manaʻo, e alulike kākou ma ke ʻano he hui kānaka, me ka maopopo i ko kākou ikaika ke lōkahi ko kākou ʻōlelo.” I ʻōlelo ai ʻo Koshiba.
ʻO kekahi o nā kanaka makamua i ka hana manawaleʻa no kēia pāhana, ʻo ia nō ʻo Karim Troost, he haumāna mēkia Mōʻaukala a Kālaiʻāina. Nāna nō i hōʻikeʻike ma kekahi papa no nā lāliʻi o ke kainoa ana; pēia pū ke koʻikoʻi o ke koho pāloka ʻana.
Wahi a Troost, “he mea koʻikoʻi ke koho pāloka, a hiki iaʻu ke kōkua ma kēia hana. Nui ka poʻe ʻōpio hou i ke kulanui e kainoa ana; ma muli paha o ko lākou ʻike ʻole mua ʻana no kēia mea koʻikoʻi. ʻAʻole i haʻi ʻia lākou ka waiwai me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo o kēia koho pāloka ʻana.”
Iā Troost, ke koho pākola ka poʻe, hōʻike lākou i kā lākou moho i ko lākou mau manaʻo. Eia hou, ʻoi aku ka hoʻolohe ʻana o nā moho i ka poʻe e koho pāloka ana ma kahi o nā poʻe e koho ʻole ana.
“ʻO ka manaʻo nui, ʻo ia ka hoʻololi ʻana i kēia mea kūʻiʻo, ʻo ka loaʻa ʻole o nā poʻe koho pāloka, me ka pilikia o ke aupuni mai ka hoihoi ʻole o kānaka e komo. ʻO ka pahuhopu, ʻo ia ke kainoa ʻana o ka poʻe he nui wale no kēia kau koho 2012.”
E nā makamaka o Hawaiʻi, e komo kākou a ʻike i nā hana a ke aupuni, a e koho pāloka. ʻO wau nō ʻo Kuʻulei Bezilla me ʻŌiwiTV, aloha.
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Although the population of Oʻahu is high, it’s voter turn out is low. Therefore, Kanu Hawaii has taken the initiative to get out the vote for the 2012 elections.
James Koshiba, Executive Director of Kanu Hawaii, says that the state of Hawaiʻi has among the lowest voter turnout in the country. This is astonishing being that “fifty years ago, we had the highest rate of voter turn out by far. You talk about young people, that is where the voter turnout rate is the lowest kind of any demographic group. So only about a little over a third of young adults eligible to vote, actually vote in Hawaiʻi.” Koshiba says.
Thus, Kanu Hawaiʻi decided to help to change this terrible fact by sharing political information with communities.
Koshiba shares that “the mission statement of Kanu was to build a more sustainable, compassionate, resilient Hawaiʻi, starting with ourselves in our personal commitments to change. And this year actually we decided for the first time to take that kind of unofficial tag line and change it from ‘I Will’ to ‘We Will.’ And the idea is, yes, there is power in changing ourselves, and that’s where we should start, but we also have to get to the point where we’re working together as a group, and recognizing that we have power as a group if we speak together.”
A new volunteer in this effort is Karim Troost, a History and Political Science major, who helped with voter registration and shared the significance of voter turnout.
“Voter registration is a big issue, and that’s something I can help out with. We usually get a really good response from younger freshmen classes, and that’s because they don’t know about voter registration, they don’t know about the process. It hasn’t been taught to them or emphasized the true importance of it.” says Troost.
He shares that by voting, people illustrate their voice to their representatives; thus they are more inclined to listen and be interested in what their voter are interested in.
Koshiba says that “the big vision, the most ambitious goal of the project is that we want to break a cycle of disengaged voters and politics that are kind of living up to our worst expectations because so few people are participating. We want to register hundreds if not thousands of new people in the 2012 election cycle.”
People of Hawaiʻi, let’s be involved in our government actions and vote. I am Kuʻulei Bezilla with ʻŌiwiTV, aloha.
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