Dismissing the election contest relating to the office of Representative from the Second Congressional District of Hawaii.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 317) dismissing the election contest relating to the office of Representative from the Second Congressional District of Hawaii.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Connecticut, our ranking member, for yielding.

I rise in support of House Resolution 317, a bill to dismiss an election contest filed against Representative Ed Case of Hawaii's Second Congressional District. There is bipartisan and complete agreement that the contest fails to state grounds sufficient to change the result of the election and therefore should be dismissed.

The contestant challenged the late Representative Patsy Mink in the 2002 Democrat primary, where he received 15 percent of the vote. The contestant argues that Representative Mink, who was seriously ill at the time of the primary and passed away 1 week later, should have been disqualified as a primary candidate, that he should have been declared the Democrat nominee by default and that as the nominee he therefore would have been the inevitable general election winner.

The Federal Contested Elections Act does not contemplate considering Notices of Contest that are based on the conduct of primary elections. Consequently, the committee concludes that the basis for the contestant's Notice of Contest falls outside the scope of the FCEA, and it was totally agreed to without any dissension.

Mr. Speaker, reserving my right to object, I yield to the distinguished chairman to explain the purpose of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, further reserving my right to object, I rise in support of the resolution reported unanimously by the Committee on House Administration to dismiss this frivolous election contest

against our colleague from Hawaii Ed Case.

Representative Case won a special election with 44 candidates on the ballot on January 4, 2003, by an overwhelming margin; and I want to commend the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Ney) for the bipartisan cooperation that has been demonstrated throughout this process.

Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of H. Res. 317.