Polling

Results by county

Recount

Early unofficial totals suggested that Kennedy had won the state by 92 votes. However, errors in the official tabulation sheets reversed this result and instead suggested a 141-vote victory for Nixon. Democrats highlighted various apparent errors in the tabulation, including 34 precincts where the number of total votes cast in the precinct was smaller than the sum of Nixon's and Kennedy's vote totals, and other precincts where the number of total votes cast was much larger than the combined votes for Nixon and Kennedy.^[10]

On November 22, attorney Robert G. Dodge filed a recount petition on behalf of thirty members of the Democratic Party of Hawaii in a Honolulu circuit court. Dodge did not allege any voter fraud, instead merely observing that the tabulation sheets were not consistent in various precincts. State Republican Party officials also considered supporting the recount petition, but were internally divided and eventually declined to join it. One elector on the Republican slate, O. P. Soares, opposed the recount petition. All three electors on the Republican slate were named as defendants, along with Republican Lieutenant Governor James Kealoha, who at the time was serving as acting governor of the state and would be required to sign any certificate of ascertainment. Attorney General Shiro Kashiwa also joined the suit to represent the state's interests.^[11][10][12]

Despite the apparent tabulation errors, Acting Governor Kealoha certified Nixon's 141-vote victory on November 28.^[13] Kealoha certified the result after two audits of the tabulation sheets by his office,^[14] and may have had no option other than to certify, as he lacked authority to inspect or retabulate the actual ballots cast.^[10]

Litigation was still ongoing on December 13, the safe harbor deadline for certification under the Electoral Count Act. As only the Republican slate had so far been certified by the state's governor, its votes would be the only ones eligible for safe harbor status. Republicans argued that the litigation should end, since even if the recount should result in a Kennedy victory, under the rules of the Electoral Count Act Congress was required to presume that the Republican electors were the validly appointed electors for Hawaii.^[12]

However, the following day, the presiding circuit court judge Ronald B. Jamieson ordered a partial recount to begin. A limited retabulation showed Nixon's margin over Kennedy decreasing, and as more ballots were opened and retabulated on subsequent days, Nixon's lead shrank and eventually disappeared. By December 18, the partial recount showed Kennedy leading Nixon in the state by 55 votes.^[12]

The recount was thus still ongoing on December 19, the day specified in U.S. law for the casting of votes by the members of the electoral college. As a consequence, both the officially certified Republican slate of electors (Gavien A. Bush, J. Howard Worrall, and O. P. Soares) and an "unofficial" Democratic slate of electors (Jennie K. Wilson, William H. Heen, and Delbert E. Metzger) convened in the ʻIolani Palace and cast competing electoral votes for Nixon and Kennedy just one minute apart.^[10][15] Certificates for both slates' electoral votes were sent to Franklin G. Floete, the Administrator of General Services.^[11]

Also on December 19, Jamieson ordered a complete statewide recount, which concluded on December 28 and showed a Kennedy victory by 115 votes.^[12] Based on this recount, Jamieson ordered that the Democratic slate of Wilson, Heen, and Metzger be named the validly appointed presidential electors for the state of Hawaii on December 30. Attorney General Kashiwa declined to appeal the verdict, and Governor William F. Quinn, a Republican, certified the Democratic slate of electors on January 4, 1961, in a letter to Administrator Floete.^[11][10] The state government also rushed a letter to Congress by air mail to indicate that a new certification was on its way.^[15]

During the congressional joint session to tabulate electoral votes on January 6, 1961, Nixon (who presided over the session in his capacity as President of the Senate), presented both the Republican and Democratic electoral certificates. To head off the possibility of a floor objection by Democrats such as Representative Daniel Inouye,^[9] Nixon then requested and received unanimous consent from the joint session for the Democratic certificate to be counted and the Republican certificate to be set aside, though he specified that this was being done "without the intent of establishing a precedent".^[16][11]