MAUI COUNTY CHARTER QUESTIONS
This guide provided by Hawaii Forum summarizes the practical effect of the seven Maui County Charter questions approved for the 2026 General Election. It is intended as a plain-language reference and does not advocate for either choice. Reading tip: A YES vote adopts the proposed Charter change. A NO vote leaves the Charter unchanged on that question.
Question 1: Deadlines for initiative, recall, and Charter petitions
BALLOT QUESTION Shall the Charter be amended, effective January 1, 2027, to standardize the deadlines related to the clerk’s processing of petitions related to voter initiative, recall of elected officers or board or commission members, and charter amendments?
A YES vote standardizes and updates the County Clerk’s deadlines for reviewing initiative, recall, and voter-proposed Charter amendment petitions. Among the changes, several signature-review periods would become 30 or 45 days.
A NO vote keeps the current Charter deadlines, which differ depending on the type of petition.
Question 2: How Charter deadlines are calculated
BALLOT QUESTION Shall the Charter be amended, effective January 1, 2027, to specify that the time in which an action must be done is computed by excluding the first day and including the last, unless the last day is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, and then it is also excluded?
A YES vote adds a uniform rule for calculating Charter deadlines: do not count the first day; count the last day unless it falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, in which case the deadline moves to the next business day.
A NO vote leaves the Charter without this general computation-of-time rule.
Question 3: Where injury and property-damage claims are filed
BALLOT QUESTION Shall the Charter be amended, effective January 1, 2027, to streamline the process for filing claims for personal injury or property damage by requiring that claims are filed directly with the Department of Finance?
A YES vote changes the filing point for written personal-injury and property-damage claims against the County from the County Clerk to the Department of Finance, which would route the claims for processing.
A NO vote keeps the current requirement that these claims first be filed with the County Clerk.
Question 4: Hawaiʻi State motto in the Charter preamble
BALLOT QUESTION Shall the Charter be amended, effective upon passage, by removing the English translation of the Hawai‘i State motto in the Maui County Charter Preamble, allowing the original phrase, “Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘āina I ka pono,” to stand on its own?
A YES vote removes the English translation from the preamble and retains only the Hawaiian language motto, “Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘āina i ka pono.”
A NO vote keeps both the Hawaiian-language motto and its existing English translation in the preamble.
Question 5: Emergency appropriations and a line of credit
BALLOT QUESTION Shall the Charter be amended, effective January 2, 2027, to allow the Mayor, with approval from the Council, to pass an emergency appropriation for an application for a line of credit and clarify that the one percent limitation for emergency appropriations does not apply to funds that have already been allocated to an emergency fund?
A YES vote allows the County, by ordinance and with Council approval, to seek a line of credit for an emergency appropriation. It also clarifies that the one-percent annual limit does not count money already allocated to an emergency fund.
A NO vote keeps the current Charter language concerning emergency notes and the existing one-percent limit without the proposed clarification for previously allocated emergency-fund money.
Question 6: Independent Nomination Board
BALLOT QUESTION Shall the Charter be amended, effective immediately, to repeal the parts of the 2022 Charter amendment that created the Independent Nomination Board and related procedures for nominations to various County offices?
A YES vote dissolves the Independent Nomination Board and removes the related nomination procedures adopted in 2022. Appointments would return to a more direct Mayor and Council process, with additional procedures permitted by ordinance.
A NO vote keeps the Independent Nomination Board and the nomination procedures created by the 2022 Charter amendment.
Question 7: Successive terms for Board of Ethics members
BALLOT QUESTION Shall the Charter be amended, effective January 1, 2027, to authorize the Mayor to reappoint members of the Board of Ethics of the County of Maui, with the approval of the Council, for one successive term without an intervening waiting period?
A YES vote allows a Board of Ethics member to be reappointed, with Council approval, for one consecutive term without first waiting two years.
A NO vote keeps the current two-year waiting period before a Board of Ethics member may be appointed again, except where another existing exception applies.