Trevor Ozawa and Tara Malia Gregory are leading the race for Honolulu City Council’s District 4, based on initial voting results Saturday night.
Ozawa received the most votes. Gregory received fewer votes than current Council Chair Tommy Waters, but a judge ruled earlier that he was ineligible to run for a third term.
District 4 covers East Oʻahu, and that seat is currently occupied by Waters.
Waters’ name was on voters’ ballots, but on July 27, a First Circuit Court ruled he was ineligible to serve another term. He was running for a third consecutive term. Honolulu law doesn’t allow council members to serve more than two consecutive terms, and Waters unsuccessfully argued that his first term was shortened by a few months in 2018 because of a special election for his seat.
Waters appealed the court’s ruling — and a decision is still pending. When he appealed, ballots with Waters’ name had already been sent to voters. The Honolulu Elections Division’s guidance to the public was that votes for him would not be counted.
For City Council seats with at least three candidates, a winner can come in the primary election if one candidate receives more than 50% of the cast votes. If none of the candidates reach that threshold, the top two vote-getters will face off in the general election in November.
Jason K. Liang had the fewest number of votes, according to the first printout.
