Honolulu council term-limit dispute

In late July 2026, a Honolulu circuit court judge ruled that City Council Chair Tommy Waters was ineligible to seek a third consecutive term, interpreting his initial, delayed swearing-in as a full term under the charter’s two-term limit. The decision came just weeks before the August 8 primary, where Waters’ name already appeared on the ballot alongside Trevor Ozawa, Tara Malia Gregory, and Jason Liang, raising questions about how any votes for him would be handled.

A few days later, the ruling was upheld by the city’s Elections Division. Although Waters’ name remained on the printed ballots, votes cast for him would be excluded from determining the council seat winner; they would only be used to assess whether an eligible candidate achieved a majority. The division explained that Hawaii law prevented reissuing ballots, and that if no candidate secured a majority, the top two would advance to the November general election.

Following the primary, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court issued a 3-2 decision denying Waters' request to be placed on the November general election ballot. The court rejected Waters' argument that his first term was not a full four-year term, concluding he was elected to the 2019-2023 and 2023-2027 terms, making him ineligible for the 2027-2031 term. Consequently, the votes Waters received in the August primary were invalidated. The court ordered that the two eligible candidates with the highest vote counts, Trevor Ozawa and Tara Malia Gregory, will face each other in the November 3 general election for Council District 4.