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The 2020 election demonstrated the power and influence of BIPOC voters—Black, Indigenous, and other people of color—and young voters. The national election saw its highest voter turnout in over a century, and our local election surpassed voter participation rates of the last two decades. How and why did Hawaii break from being one of the states with the lowest voter turnout, to experiencing 150,000 new voters in the primaries? What behaviors and decisions energize people to take collective action? And, how do we keep this momentum going?

The King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center’s panel discussion features insight from Dr. Ngoc Phan, Assistant Professor at Hawaii Pacific University; Davis Price, Community Outreach Manager at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Dr. Amy Agbayani, Community Civil Rights and Immigration Advocate; and Dyson Chee, Coalition Director of Vote16HI.

This program is part of the Why it Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation initiative, administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils, funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and created in partnership with the Hawaii Council for the Humanities and the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center. Mahalo to the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Public Policy Center for co-sponsoring this program.

Please visit the Judiciary History Center’s YouTube channel and click “Videos” to view this and other programs.

While the Hawaii State Judiciary provides a venue for diverse discussion, the speakers’ remarks do not necessarily represent opinions of the Judiciary.

Panelists

Dr. Ngoc Phan, Assistant Professor at Hawaii Pacific University
Dr. Ngoc Phan is an Assistant Professor at Hawaii Pacific University in the Department of History and International Studies. She is a social scientist with expertise in American Politics, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, Survey Methodology, and Race and Ethnicity. Her research examines how emotions impact the ability of groups to overcome collective action problems. Dr. Ngoc Phan’s most recent research—the 2019 Native Hawaiian Survey—examines how identity impacts political attitudes and behaviors within the Hawaiian community.

Davis Price, Community Outreach Manager at Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Davis is a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law and the Hawaiinuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has over 10 years of experience in government affairs and public policy, and has done extensive community organizing. His advocacy has covered numerous issues related to Native Hawaiian rights, land use, the environment, and civic engagement. Davis is a past fellow with the First Nations Futures Program and Ka Huli Ao Center For Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law. He is also currently the Community Outreach Manager at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs overseeing statewide community outreach efforts to further OHA’s mission.

Dr. Amy Agbayani, Community Civil Rights and Immigration Advocate
Dr. Amy Agbayani came to Hawai’i from the Philippines as an East West Center Scholar and received her PhD in political science. She is an Emeritus Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Diversity at the University of Hawaii; co-founder of the UHM Operation Manong, inaugural Chair of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, and member of Patsy T. Mink PAC and The Legal Clinic for immigrant justice.

Dyson Chee, Coalition Director at Vote16HI
Dyson Chee is an 18 year-old part-time student and full-time youth activist living on Oahu. Since 2020, Dyson has been the Coalition Director for Vote16HI, the Hawaii chapter of the national Vote16 movement. He is deeply passionate about climate justice and youth rights, which is what led him to be a part of the Vote16HI hui. Dyson is currently a sophomore at Kapiolani Community College, aiming for a degree in interdisciplinary studies. In his free time, you can be sure to find Dyson either playing tennis or drinking boba.