View Scorecard for Year
Responsive Gov’s Grade TL;DR
Hawaii’s 2025 legislative session was characterized by administrative maintenance. While the state successfully joined the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and resolved minor statutory inconsistencies regarding registration deadlines, it failed to advance broader reforms. By neglecting to modernize its automatic voter registration infrastructure, the Legislature squandered a key opportunity to strengthen the state’s election framework. Consequently, Hawaii earned a B-.
Looking Back
Where Hawaii Started at the Beginning of 2025
- Automatic Voter Registration: Partial AVR
- Online Voter Registration: DMV ID
- Same-Day Registration: Yes
- Restoration of Rights: Prison Disenfranchisement
- Vote by Mail: Vote By Mail
- Electronic Registration Information Center Participation: Yes
- Early Voting Opportunities: Regular Ballot Early Voting
- ID Requirements: ID Requested, but not Required
Relying on the Cost of Voting Index for Hawaii as of 2024, we considered the state a top tier state for pre-existing voting policy and compared its 2025 activity against other top tier states.
How Our Tier Compares
2025: This Past Year
Legislative Action
The Hawaii State Legislature made a small technical correction to its election laws to ensure the previously extended voter registration deadline also applied to registrations by mail.
- HB 408 makes conforming changes to align existing statutes with a prior change to state law that extended the voter registration by mail deadline to 10 days before the election.