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WAILUKU - The Board of Registration for Maui County is expected to release its decision today on whether to go ahead with a hearing on the residency of Maui County Council candidate Sol Kaho'ohalahala.

The board heard arguments Monday on Kaho'ohalahala's motion that the board doesn't have authority over the challenge. Kaho'ohalahala has argued that the challenge to his residency is attempting to overturn the results of the Sept. 20 first special election, which only the state Supreme Court has the power to do. He has separately petitioned the Supreme Court to throw out the challenges.

After Kaho'ohalahala finished first in the election, a dozen Lanai residents filed challenges to his residency. While Kaho'ohalahala was born and lived for years on Lanai, in recent years he has lived with his wife in Lahaina while working on Maui.

Maui County Clerk Roy Hiraga rejected the challenges, noting that, under state law, a person is a resident of a place if they have established a home there and intend to return. He also noted that the challenges were not filed before the election, as the law requires.

Lanai resident Michael "Phoenix" Dupree appealed the decision.

The Board of Registration exists to hear appeals to voter-registration challenges. Members of the board are John Henry, Gene Zarro and Mercedes Neri.

Lance Collins, Kaho'ohalahala's attorney, argued that the appeal was attempting to overturn the election results - something the board didn't have the power to do. He asked the board to find that it didn't have jurisdiction to hear the appeal, or to put off its hearing until the state Supreme Court had ruled on his petition.

Dupree said some of the original challenges were questioning Kaho'ohalahala's eligibility to vote on Lanai, so the board did have jurisdiction.

He said the issue may have been complicated by legal arguments, but it should be simple.

"Mr. Kaho'ohalahala is obviously not an actual resident of Lanai," he said.

He said the challenges weren't filed before the first special election because Kaho'ohalahala wasn't campaigning or living on the island.

"Nobody knew he was running, so how could they challenge his nomination papers?" he asked.

Collins said Lanai residents had received plenty of notice about all the candidates who would be on the ballot.

"Obama is running for president," he said. "He hasn't made it to Lanai yet, but I'm sure everyone on Lanai knows Obama is running for office."

* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.