The Neighborhood Commission Office, which administers O'ahu's 32 neighborhood boards, mailed 235,000 paper ballots to registered voters in neighborhood board districts and subdistricts that have contested races. Voters may opt to fill out those paper ballots and return them by mail.

This year, for the first time, registered voters have the option of voting online, through the Internet. They should use the secure, 10-digit voter number that comes with the paper ballot, then vote at www.nbvote.com.

In addition, voters in districts or subdistricts where there are no contested seats or no candidates may also vote online. In previous mail-only elections, ballots were not sent to registered voters in districts that had no contests.

Results of the election will be announced on May 1.

At stake are 444 seats on the 32 neighborhood boards, which serve as grass-roots advisors to all levels of government on community concerns. Each board meets monthly, and board members are not paid for their service. There are 138 subdistricts within the 32 board areas