How mom votes - On plunking, block voting, and other such Kauai County Council voting strategies

The absentee ballots have been mailed, and the Primary Election will conclude on August 13.Thus I am compelled to explain the importance of block voting, plunking and in general resisting the urge to go “eeny, meeny, miney, moe” and expending all seven Kauai County Council votes – some votes on candidates you really want to see in office and other votes on candidates that are “ok” or whom you are not really sure.The fundamental rule of akamai Kauai voting is: Do not use all 7 votes when choosing your Kauai County Council candidates. Unless of course you feel equally supportive of all 7 candidates you choose or perhaps have your own strategy you believe in.The ballot will say “vote for up to 7” or similar language. Experienced Kauai voters will use their Council votes sparingly, selecting only those candidates whom they really and truly and positively want to get elected. These voters might cast one vote or perhaps up to 4 or 5 votes but rarely do they go beyond this number.An example of how casting all 7 votes can work to the detriment of the candidate or candidates you are most interested in getting elected:There are 19 candidates running for the 7 Council seats. The council candidates’ mother goes to vote.She votes for her child (naturally) and then pauses and decides to vote for one other candidate who has been especially nice to good ol’ mom during the campaign. Mom’s favorite candidate (her child) then loses the election by one vote to that other candidate and very nice person mom decided to vote for also.Bottom line is that in most Kauai Council elections – mom’s, grandma’s, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers and children of the candidate will often only cast one vote in the Kauai County Council race.This is called “plunking”. Others have their definition for plunking but this is how I have come to know the term.In order to accomplish anything on the Council 4 votes are needed, and preferably there are at least 5. And plunk or not, it can get mighty lonely on the Council if you make it and none of your friends do.Block voting is an expanded variation of the one vote all powerful plunk. Block voting is usually a 3 or 5 vote maximum but the same principal applies. The voter selects only those candidates whom they truly want to get elected, whom they believe truly represent their core values – and they vote for those candidates only and resist giving their remaining votes to candidates whom might as a result beat their favorites.For the 2022 Primary Election my first two votes are going to Fern Anuenue Holland and Addison Bulosan. These are the only two new challengers I will be voting for.A fundamental rule of service in elective office: No matter how smart you are, no matter how hard you work, no matter how good you are in your heart – you cannot serve unless you get elected.Please vote, please research all of the candidates and vote only for those you truly believe will represent your core values.Thank you, gh