Aloha Reader,

Mahalo nui to all of you who showed up to support "Workers over Billionaires" last Friday, and a huge shout-out to those of you who joined the May Day call for a national economic boycott. Here you can find a fun collection of photos.

Although this was a bad week for democracy nationally, it had a surprise positive ending in Hawai'i.

STATE NEWS

SB 2471 – Sunshine over Dark Money – advances to floor vote

PARTIAL WIN: Minutes before the 6 pm deadline on Friday, the conference committee passed SB 2471, a bill that will mitigate Citizens United here in Hawaiʻi. After five days of negotiations, and despite a final-day attempt to weaken it, the bill advanced to floor votes next week. Congratulations to all of you who kept up the pressure on our legislators to do the right thing 🎉🎉.

BUT: During the committee process, this bill picked up language that allows the state Attorney General to summarily nullify it. That defect now needs to be fixed through a floor amendment, a rare maneuver. Our Public Policy Team is working on sponsors for the amendment, who will need to negotiate in advance with leadership in each chamber.  

If we can get the amendment sponsored, we will ask you to help push it through the floor votes.  They are scheduled for Wednesday morning, 9:00 am in the House and 9:30 am in the Senate. 

If the bill passes suitably amended, then we will ask for your help to get Governor Green’s signature. We are taking nothing for granted. Mahalo nui to all of you who showed up to support "Workers over Billionaires" last Friday, and a huge shout-out to those of you who joined the May Day call for a national economic boycott.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Be on the lookout for an email on the morning of Tuesday, May 5, 2026, for instructions from the Statewide Public Policy Team. If you're not on the Public Policy Team, you can sign up here.
​

Celebrate our accomplishments in the legislature

WIN: We were extraordinarily successful on all of the issues and bills we pushed this year. The State Legislature adjourns on Friday, and our Public Policy Team will offer a legislative session wrap-up webinar that evening.

TAKE ACTION: Register for the webinar "What Have We Accomplished in the 2026 Legislative Session?" on Friday May 8, 2026, 5:30 – 7:00 pm.

Elections Commission opening

The Big Lie has arrived in Hawai'i.

The Hawai’i State Elections Commission has become a forum for conspiracy theorists to challenge the security and validity of Hawai'i elections. Over the past year, its monthly meetings have been chaotic and even abusive, with some commissioners and members of the public persistently disregarding respectful meeting procedures, calling out commissioners, and making statements unsupported by facts. It seems part of a national push to undermine confidence in our elections and persuade people their vote doesn’t matter, even though there’s no evidence of fraud in Hawai’i’s Vote-By-Mail election process.   

The position of Chair of the Elections Committee is currently open, and 8 candidates have applied. We want the Committee to clarify the candidate evaluation and selection process to ensure it is fair and open.  Here is the link to the Meeting Materials, which provides the applications from all 8 candidates.

What you can do:

• Watch or listen to the Committee’s meeting this Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 10 am.
  Here is a link to the agenda.
• We urge you to submit testimony - ideally before 10 am Tuesday - asking the Commission to clarify the process for interviewing/vetting candidates. What questions will be asked? What is the interview process? Will the process be open to the public, or will it be held in an executive session? We want all candidates asked the same questions, and we want interviews, candidate evaluations, and final decision-making conducted in public. We suggest the candidate be evaluated on: 1) their experience in conducting meetings; 2) their ability to be impartial and maintain respectful conduct; 3) a commitment to honoring time constraints; 4) an understanding of and allegiance to the U.S. and State Constitutions, and commission mandates; and 5) a commitment to transparency and fairness. 

Questions?  Email Patti Cook - cookshi@aol.com, or Janet Mason (League of Women Voters) - janet@janetfoxmason.org  

NATIONAL NEWS

Nationally, our democracy suffered more blows 

After Pam Bondi’s removal as Attorney General (AG), Trump’s private defense counsel, Todd Blanche, became the Acting AG. He wants to be the appointed AG. So, he’s pushing forward on the vindictive prosecutions that Bondi tried and failed. They’ve indicted former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey again, on bogus charges. And now they’ve filed a fraud lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center, the very organization that took down the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and that tracks dangerous hate groups across the country. And as if Blanche weren’t embarrassing himself enough, he signed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against the White House East wing demolition and ballroom construction. The motion reads like a ridiculous late-night Trump Truth Social post: "Because it is DONALD J. TRUMP, a highly successful real estate developer, who has abilities that others don’t, especially those who assume the Office of President, this frivolous and meritless lawsuit was filed,” the filing states. “Again, it’s called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Electoral Shenanigans: Jim Crow 2.0

In Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court overturned the remainder of the 1965 Voting Rights Act last week. Usually, the Court holds off on major decisions until July, but this time it sped them up to assist Trump in his quest to rig the 2026 midterm elections.

Immediately, the Governor of Louisiana declared an emergency to cancel their primary that was already in progress! Voters had already submitted absentee ballots! This has never happened before in the U.S. The Governor is claiming he must do this because the Supreme Court invalidated the State’s districting map. The truth is, he’s using this to redraw districts to ensure Republican candidates are elected. Within two days of the decision, governors across the South jumped to gerrymander their states’ maps to eliminate Democratic-leaning districts.

Congress Still Derelict of its Duty

The Iran War just crossed its 60-day mark, the point at which the president must receive congressional approval under the 1973 War Powers Act. What did the Republican House and Senate leadership do? They amplified Hegseth’s claim that the “ceasefire” stops the clock, even as he moves more troops to the Middle East and continues to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. House of Representatives (including Hawai'i's Representative Ed Case) voted to approve a short-term extension of §702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is supposed to be used to gather intelligence on foreigners, but is being illegally used by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Americans without a warrant. The Senate has already approved the short-term extension, but we will continue to follow this issue.

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

Postcarding events in Kona

The recent Supreme Court decision allows gerrymandering that disenfranchises Black voters in the very states where many of their ancestors were enslaved. As Grassroots Dems HQ says, “We cannot let this injustice stand. We must immediately double down on our organizing and turn out such an overwhelming coalition of pro-democracy voters this November that no amount of rigged Republican maps can silence the will of the people. Remember: Donald Trump and his GOP allies want you to feel powerless and demoralized. But our democracy and our freedoms will only die if we let them. We are staying in the fight to save our country, and we hope you will get active: sign up for a volunteer action today.”

Join us and get out the vote by writing postcards. Let’s take action together.

FUTURE EVENTS

• Thursday May 7, May 14, May 21, May 28, and June 4, from 1:30-3:00 pm. Kealekekua. Register.
• Sunday, June 7 from 3-5:00 pm at Kahalu’u Beach Park Pavilion. Register.

We provide you with free postcards, voter lists, scripts, and instructions. You provide the stamps, your writing muscles, and your favorite pens. We always appreciate your generous donation of postcard stamps or money toward postage, so that all postcard writers are welcome (including those with limited financial capacity). This way, we can all find ways to help get out the vote. 

POSTCARD AT HOME

We’ve got you covered. Pick up a postcard packet at one of our postcard hubs and write at home. More info here.

Already got your own postcards and just need addresses? You can get addresses emailed to you here. Choose NAMES ONLY. Or, you can get addresses directly from postcarding organizations. State legislature and local elections across the country are happening now! Sign up directly with  Postcards To Voters and Postcards For Democracy. Both organizations allow you to choose only 1 or 4 addresses at a minimum. It’s easy and fun. You can find more information on Geri’s List​

Newsletter changes coming

Thanks to all of you who have shared feedback on this newsletter. This is the last one I will write in this form for Kona Indivisible. Starting next weekend, we will separate the county/local sections into their own email. I will still write a national and state review. Still, it will come as an Indivisible Hawai'i Statewide Network (IHSN) email. You’ll be able to opt in or out of the various newsletters so you get the information you want to receive. More next week! 

Warmest Aloha,
Sam & the leadership team

- The Kona Indivisible Team ​konaindivisible.org​ ​info@konaindivisible.org​

​