So I really wanted to know more about the local races here in Hawaii. I have been getting a lot of fliers in the mail and heard a lot on the radio/TV, but I wanted to research the facts for myself. Luckily, I found a website at the Honolulu Advertiser that lets you see all races, and view the candidates’ responses to the issues. It also had links to their website if you wanted to find out more.

The two best things about the website are: 1) you can select where you live, and you only get the races on your ballot, and 2) you can select all of the candidates that you want to vote for and then print out your selections to bring with you into the voting booth. It took me about an hour and a half to research all of my local races, which is about as much time as I wanted to put into it.

I wish that it also explained the ballot initiatives and had the arguments for and against each one. Instead, I just had to read a brief description of each initiative to see if it matters to me, and then do web searches to research the issues that do.

The (official Honolulu County election)[http://www.honoluluelections.us/] site is really bad. I couldn’t even find out which races I would be voting in. It has a link that says “Find out more about the candidates.” When I clicked on it, it just sent me to a page that tells me how to apply to run for office. The ballot initiatives links aren’t very helpful in explaining what the initiative does, unless you are a lawyer.