Fukushima said he learned that the only way to appeal is through a Hawai'i Supreme Court filing, and he did not want to become involved in a complex legal process.

Fukushima was the second-place finisher in the Kaua`i mayor's race, in which Mayor Bryan Baptiste was the outright winner due to having received a majority of votes cast. If Baptiste had received just two fewer votes, the race would have gone to a runoff between him and Fukushima in the General Election.

Two candidates who have little reasonable chance of staying in the race, third-place candidate John Hoff and fifth-place candidate Janee Marie Taylor, both said yesterday that they hope to file election challenges with the Supreme Court by the 4:30 p.m. deadline today.

"I'm doing it to preserve the dignity of our system," said Hoff, who believes an audit of paper ballots could result in a change in the outcome of the election.