Section 3-177-353 - Party petitions; verification of signatories(a) Upon receipt of a party petition, the chief election officer or designated. representative shall verify within the time specified in HRS § 11-62 whether the petition has met the requirements to qualify a political party.(b) Upon receipt of a petition containing the minimum number of signatures required by HRS § 11-62(a)(3), the chief election officer or designated representative shall verify whether the signatory is eligible to sign the petition. To be eligible, the signatory must appear in the statewide voter registration system as an active registered voter no later than 4:30 p.m. on the day of the filing deadline. The calculation of the number of signatures required by HRS § 11-62(a)(3) may use the total of registered voters that had been entered into the statewide voter registration system by the deadline established in HRS § 11-24 or reported as part of any certified election results. (1) If the signatory on the petition exists as an active registered voter in the statewide voter registration system, then the signatory shall be counted;(2) If the signatory on the petition does not exist as an active registered voter in the statewide voter registration system, then the signatory shall not be counted;(3) If there are duplicate signatories on the petition, and the signatory is an active registered voter in the statewide voter registration system then the signatory shall be counted once;(4) If the signatory' does not provide all of the required information on the petition, then the signatory may not be counted;(5) If the information is not legible, then it may not be counted; and(6) If a voter withdraws the voter's signature from the petition as prescribed in HAR § 3-177-352, the voter's signature shall not be verified or counted.(c) To the extent a document is initially received and subsequently found not to meet filing requirements, it may be provided back to the individual to obtain the necessary signatures or to otherwise be corrected, before being resubmitted. For example, if a petition is submitted and it is subsequently determined that it does not have the required number of verified signatures, the petition may be returned to the person submitting it so they can obtain sufficient signatures and resubmit the document by the filing deadline.(d) The chief election officer or designated representative may verify that the voter's signature on the petition corresponds with the reference signature or reference signatures of the voter. If the signature does not correspond, then the voter's signature on the petition shall not be counted. The chief election officer or designated representative shall indicate on the petition that the voter's signature is invalid because it does not match any reference signature of the voter.(e) The chief election officer or designated representative may verify only as many signatories as needed to ensure that the political party has met the signature requirements of HRS § 11-62.[Eff JUL 26 2020] (Auth: HRS § 11-4) (Imp: HRS § 11-62)