"You do everything on your time; it's just a wonderful experience," Nightingdale said. "You don't have to stand in line, you don't have to waste energy."

Sue Keola, 56, said it makes sense for her to vote by mail. Otherwise, the owner of a knitting shop on Bishop Street would have to curtail her store hours in order to vote at her Makakilo polling place.

Keola said she likes to go through the voters guide put out by the newspaper as she decides for whom to vote. "It gives me a chance to sit down and look through it," she said. "I can make a more educated choice."

Dan Chun

"What I enjoy about absentee ballots is it gives me time to think about the candidates and the issues, especially when there are charter or constitutional amendment questions," said Chun, 53, a university-area resident. "Because I don't keep up on all of the issues, sometimes when I see it on the ballot it may be even the first time I see it at all."

The number of absentee mail voters has been growing steadily on O'ahu since the 1994 primary election, when just 6,600 voters asked for mail-in ballots.

Absentee mail requests are typically a good gauge of how many people will actually turn in mail-in ballots, Takahashi said, noting that between 85 percent and 90 percent of those who ask for the ballots send them back.

Absentee mail requests are also up on the Neighbor Islands with the exception of Kaua'i County, which is running just slightly behind the last election cycle, according to Rex Quidilla, a spokesman for the state Office of Elections.

Including those who voted at absentee polling places before election day, the number and percentage of voters who cast their ballots beforehand have increased steadily during the past several primary elections. More than one in four voters statewide, or 25.3 percent, cast their ballots beforehand in 2002. That was up from the 19.6 percent who voted absentee in the 2000 primary and the 16.1 percent who did so in 1998.

Elections officials expect that upward trend to continue.

Takahashi said that while county offices have not made it a priority to promote absentee mail voting, different organizations from unions to political parties to candidates themselves have pushed early voting.

Quidilla said a candidate or noncandidate committee can even send the request form for an absentee ballot application to voters, so long as it is not accompanied by literature urging voters to support a candidate or a position over another.

The Hawai'i Government Employees Association has always encouraged its members to vote absentee and this year that included not just announcements in newsletters and union meetings, but also a mailout to members, said HGEA spokesman Randy Kusaka.

"It's the easiest way of voting," Kusaka said. "We also have a retirees' unit, and we want to encourage them to be good citizens and participate, and they can do it this way instead of having to drive, look for parking and wait in line."

In the 50th state, any registered Hawai'i voter may cast an absentee ballot.

For an absentee mail ballot, the city or county clerk's office must receive a filled out official request form by Sept. 11.

Applications can be found at satellite city halls on O'ahu, the city or county clerks offices, U.S. post offices and all public libraries. They can also be downloaded from the state Office of Elections Web site at www.hawaii.gov/elections/forms/frm_ab.pdf.

Ballots must be in the custody of the respective clerk's office by 6 p.m. election day although state and city officials highly recommend that voters mail them early to give ample time for the ballots to arrive by mail.

Registered voters may also vote absentee at walk-in polling places. Voters don't need to get a ballot beforehand to participate in walk-in voting but should bring proper identification.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.