Hawaii's Office of Elections wants to change how tied races are decided, a small but real fix after a tie threw a state House seat into the courts.

• The change follows a state Supreme Court ruling over District 43, where Representative Kanani Souza lost her seat to Sheila Maduras after their primary ended in a tie.
• That tie was settled by pulling names from plastic capsules dropped in a basket.
• Under the proposal, names could simply be drawn from a container when those capsules aren't on hand.
• A public hearing on the rule is set for October 26, with oral and written testimony accepted.

Outlook: The rule is likely to be finalized after the hearing, giving Hawaii a simpler fallback the next time a race ends dead even.