Preparations are underway as Hawaiʻi’s upcoming August primary elections approaches. For Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago, the election season has been particularly eventful.
Chief elections officers around the country, including Nago, received letters in early July from the U.S. Justice Department. Federal officials threatened criminal prosecution if they allowed ballots cast by noncitizens to be counted.
In addition, Nago also testified before lawmakers last week, who questioned him on how to handle the hypothetical scenario of the U.S. Postal Service refusing to deliver mail-in ballots.
The questioning was related to President Donald Trump’s earlier executive order to limit mail-in ballots, which was blocked by a federal judge.
Nago spoke with HPR to discuss these hot-seat issues and to share how overall preparations for the August primary have been progressing.
In regards to the letter he received threatening criminal prosecution, Nago said, “It’s not going to deter us from doing our mission, which is providing secure, accessible, and convenient elections.”
He told HPR the letter prompted no change in their usual procedure since “noncitizens aren't allowed to vote anyway.”
Similarly, the issue of the USPS hypothetically refusing to deliver mail-in ballots appeared to be a non-issue for Nago.
“The USPS can't do that … like I said, that’s a hypothetical question ,” he told HPR. “So that is not something that we would focus our efforts on, or have focused our efforts on coming up with a plan B.”
If such a scenario were to occur, he suggested alternate delivery options, increased in-person voting opportunities, and potential litigation against USPS as possible methods of coping with a potential mail-in ballot block.
In-person voting at polling centers will take place on Aug. 8. However, Nago also explained that voters have the option to vote in-person at voter service centers up to 10 days prior to election day.
The deadline to register to vote and receive your ballot in the mail is July 29. If you miss that, worry not — in-person voter registration will continue to be available at voter registration centers up until election day.
More information, including key dates and deadlines for the upcoming primary elections, can be found at elections.hawaii.gov.
This story aired on The Conversation on July 13, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
