In an effort to help more Hawaii Catholics fulfill what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls a “moral obligation” to vote, Bishop Larry Silva is asking local parishes to conduct voter registration drives during Masses over the June 21-22 weekend.
Voter registration forms will be passed out in the pews and Mass-goers who are not yet registered will be invited to fill out the forms following instructions given from the pulpit.
According to the bishop the process will take place “after the Prayer after Communion and before the final blessing.”
He said a “precise script” will guide parishioners through the process and ensure that “no one has the impression that we are pressuring them either to declare for a particular political party or to vote for a particular candidate.”
The registration drive is mandatory for all parishes.
“We want to encourage every eligible voter to vote in the upcoming primary and general elections,” the bishop wrote in a letter (right) to Island Catholics which he asked to be distributed at all parishes the weekend of June 7-8. “Knowing the candidates and the issues is an essential exercise of our responsibility; but unless we vote, our voices will not be heard.”
Hawaii’s 2014 primary election is Saturday, Aug. 9. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
“Hawaii has the lowest voter participation in the country,” Bishop Silva said.
According to the state Office of Elections, only 290,766 people — 42.3 percent of Hawaii’s registered voters — voted in the 2012 primary election. In the 2012 general election, 437,157 people, or 61.9 percent of those registered, voted.
The registration campaign is being coordinated by the Hawaii Catholic Conference which will provide parishes with the registration forms or camera-ready copies the parishes can reproduce themselves.
The parishes will collect the forms and have them mailed or delivered to the city/county clerk on each island.
The bishop said that while the church cannot endorse candidates or political parties, he is asking citizens to vote for those candidates who embody “the values that we hold dear as Catholics, not only for the good of our own Church, but for the common good.”
He identified as “essential” values, the “respect for life from the moment of conception to natural death; the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman as the basis of the healthy family, which leads to a healthy culture; care for the poor and most vulnerable; freedom based on the truth of the human person and religious freedom.”
The bishop is also encouraging parishioners to “select the permanent absentee voter option, so that you will always receive the ballot in the mail and will have more time to study it and to fill it out.”
He urged “prayers during this election time, so that all Hawaii’s citizens may be guided by the Spirit of Truth and may exercise a right for which many have given their lives.”
“With all the hype about ‘separation of church and state’ we can be deceived into thinking that our participation in the political life of our community has nothing to do with our Catholic faith,” the bishop said.
In order to register to vote in Hawaii, a person must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the State of Hawaii and 18 years old by election day.
A resident must register by July 10 to vote in the primary election, or by Oct. 6 to vote in the general.
A person may apply to vote by absentee ballot, either by mail or in person, once or permanently. An absentee voter receives the ballot early by mail and may vote early up until the day of election. The ballots must be returned to the city or county clerk by the day of each respective election.