Maui County voters are about to elect their legislative body for the first time since the devastating August 2023 fires.

All nine County Council races are on the ballot, and while the 16 candidates must reside in the district they seek to represent, voters can cast ballots in all the races. That means everyone in Maui County has a say in the council’s balance of power, in which one faction is viewed as more pro-development than the other.

It also means the candidates meet up frequently. Twelve of them are expected to attend a Civil Beat pop-up forum Wednesday in Wailuku at the J. Walter Cameron Center, 95 Malahani St., at 6 p.m. Last week, 13 of them showed up for a Lahaina Strong forum.

All of them also responded to Civil Beat’s candidate survey, and their answers can be found here.

 

Maui’s most pressing issues were on the menu at the Lahaina Strong forum at Hanakoo Beach Park: the housing shortage, skyrocketing rents, water rights, Lahaina’s reconstruction, fire prevention, public safety and the threat of land grabs by outsiders.

Currently, a delicate balance of power tilts toward a council majority of five that is generally considered pro-development and supported by the construction industry. It includes Tom Cook, Alice Lee, Yuki Lei Sugimura, Nohelani U’u-Hodgins and Tasha Kama.