Ni'ihau turnout No. 1 again
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The Hawaiian-speaking residents of quiet Ni'ihau voted at twice the rate of the rest of the state in last month's primary election.
Seventy-one of Ni'ihau's 85 registered voters cast a ballot in the primary, a turnout of 83.5 percent — more than double the state turnout of 41 percent and the highest of any precinct in Kaua'i County.
County voting officials said 36 of the Ni'ihau voters cast absentee ballots by mail, and 35 showed up at the polls on election day. Of the 35 ballots cast on-island, 13 were Republican and 22 Democrat.
The Republicans cast seven votes for statewide GOP winner Linda Lingle, five for John Carroll and one blank. The Democrats split 12 for Ed Case and 10 for Andy Anderson. None voted for the Democratic primary winner, Mazie Hirono.
The Ni'ihau absentee ballots are counted with others from Kaua'i's western district and cannot be broken out.
In the Kaua'i mayor's race, Ni'ihau voted overwhelmingly for Ron Kouchi, who was raised in Waimea, just across the Kaulakahi Channel.
Voting has long posed a problem on isolated Ni'ihau, which has no regular air service and no runway, but it is one that residents have been willing to overcome. Their turnout leads the county and often the state, in election after election.
Occasional air service was established a few years ago when Ni'ihau Ranch owners bought a helicopter for tours, ranch business and emergency medical transportation.
At one time, island residents voted on paper ballots, which were counted there and the results sent via radio to an election official on Kaua'i. Later, the ballots would be shipped to Kaua'i, to be recounted for confirmation.
In recent years, absentee balloting made access easier. Absentee ballots were mailed to all Ni'ihau registered voters, and the marked ballots were returned by mail.
But state elections officials received requests from the island for a polling place, and this year, with the help of Ni'ihau Helicopters, they got one.
Two residents were trained as voting officials, and a battery-powered ballot counter was flown to the island. Polls were set up at Ni'ihau Elementary School, a wooden frame building that shares a dusty yard with the community church.
It took only a couple of hours to let everyone on the island vote, and then the polling place was closed and the equipment shipped back to Kaua'i.
Elections officials say that in the general election, Ni'ihau residents will have a choice once again between voting by mail or walking down the dusty pathways from their homes to the elementary school in Pu'uwai Village.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808)245-3074.
