Posted on: Friday, September 3, 2004
Early voting sites will open today
Advertiser Staff
Walk-in absentee voting for the Hawai'i primary election begins today on five islands. Any registered voter may vote early at a walk-in site; you don't need a reason or to prove you'll be away on election day, Sept. 18.
O'ahu: Honolulu Hale; Pearlridge Center, Uptown; Windward Mall; Kapolei Hale, 1000 Uluohia St. Big Island: County Building, Hilo; Kona mayor's office, 75-5706 Kuakini Highway; Waimea Community Center; Pahala Community Center; N. Kona District Courthouse. Maui: County Building, Wailuku, seventh floor. Moloka'i: Mitchell Pauole Center, Kaunakakai. Kaua'i: County Building, Lihu'e. Early voting sites will be open through Sept. 16. Bring a photo ID, such as a driver's license.
All O'ahu sites will be open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Neighbor Islands, days and times vary. Call your county clerk's office for details.
Also, the state Office of Elections has reported that voter registration for the primary election is up by 34,613, an increase that is about average for an election year.
There are 626,120 Hawai'i residents registered to vote in the primary, said Rex Quidilla, a state elections spokesman. That's up about 5.9 percent from the 591,507 voters who were eligible to vote following a purge of voter rolls done last year.
Typically, Quidilla said, voter rolls increase by about 30,000 voters from the end of a general election to the deadline to register for the primary.
Election officials expect the rolls to go up again as new voters register for the Nov. 2 general election, particularly since there is high interest in the presidential race. The deadline to register for the general election is Oct. 4. Prospective voters had until Aug. 19 to register for the primary.
There were 676,242 eligible voters for the 2002 general election but the rolls were purged last year of 84,735 inactive names.
The popularity of absentee voting — both walk-in and by mail — is growing. In the 2002 primary election, 25 percent of Hawai'i voters voted absentee, compared to 20 percent in 2000 and 16 percent in 1998.
Walk-in absentee voting sites
