Absentee voters turn in ballots at record pace
| • | Table: Early voting on the rise |
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Staff Writer
Voters across the state have been walking into polling places and mailing in absentee ballots in unprecedented numbers during the past few weeks.
Preliminary figures — two days before tomorrow's election — showed the turnout already nearly 16 percent more than in the 2000 primary election.
Voter registration is at a record 667,679, a 5 percent increase over the 2000 election. But whether strong early voting predicts a high overall election turnout is not yet clear.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"A lot of people are saying, 'We wanted to do this early because we didn't want to wait in long lines on Election Day,'" said Big Island election administrator Pat Nakamoto.
City elections officials, from left, Glen Takahashi, Roland Lagareta and Gae Bergquist Trommald packed up processed election ballots yesterday at an absentee polling booth in the Windward Mall.
The 2002 election is one of the biggest in Hawai'i's history, and elections officials have been warning of possible delays at the polling places.
Because of reapportionment, all members of the state Legislature must run for re-election — some for two-year terms and some for four. And in addition to the entire Legislature, all city and county council seats are on the ballot, along with governor and lieutenant governor, both U.S. House seats and various others.
For many voters, their polling place has changed along with district lines.
County clerks' elections divisions, which run the polling places, fear there could be delays because of voters showing up at the wrong places. If a registered voter does appear at an incorrect location, that individual will be directed to the right voting place.
Whether extended delays develop, the early voting numbers are impressive. Breaking down the nearly 16 percent early vote, it is clear that while people were showing up at walk-in polling places at a rate 12 percent more than two years ago, they were even more comfortable with mailing in their ballots. Mailed absentee ballots totaled 19 percent more than in the 2002 primary, and voting officials had not yet collected and counted the mailed ballots of late yesterday through the last mail pickup tomorrow.
On Maui and Kaua'i, mail-in ballots were nearing double the number received in the primary election of 2000. The Big Island was nearly 50 percent higher. On O'ahu, where most of the voters live, the increases were not as high, but still at record levels.
At the Kaua'i County Building yesterday, all the parking stalls out front were occupied and the seats inside were filled at 3 p.m., an hour before the close of walk-in voting.
Kaua'i elections administrator Lyndon Yoshioka stood out in front of the historic building, directing traffic.
"It's really busy," he said.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
