Deliberative Opinion Poll - Hawaii Televote As Precedent

Hawaii Televote As Precedent

The Hawaii Televote was a form of polling that did not incorporate moderated face-to-face sessions among the citizens selected. It was invented by Ted Becker and Christa Daryl Slaton at the University of Hawaii in 1978. It was incorporated into the Hawaii State Constitutional Convention in 1978. The first two issues were whether to adopt citizens initiatives into the Hawaii Constitution and the second was whether to select Hawaii judges by election, not gubernatorial appointment.

The Hawaii Televote method was the first university-based model of deliberative polling in the world and succeeded in attracting highly representative samples of the public to participate. There were 12 Hawaii Televotes conducted from 1978 to 1985. Ten were in Hawaii, one in New Zealand (1981) and one sponsored by SCAG (The Southern California Association of Governments) in 1983, prior to the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games in 1984. The complex method and extensive results have been reported in two books.