The 2010 election is already shaping up as a barnburner because of the magnitude of offices changing hands. Principally, a new governor and lieutenant governor will be elected, as well as a delegate to Congress, and more than likely, a new mayor.

But a potential train wreck looms, with the upheaval brewing in the state Office of Elections. The state Elections Commission, witnessing a hail of criticism about Chief Elections Officer Kevin Cronin, this week decided to send Cronin a letter expressing its "displeasure."

Surely there needs to be more action than that if a disastrous election cycle is to be averted next fall. The commission, which hired Cronin, needs to take a hard look at their options and come up with a plan to close the gaps in election planning in time for next fall.

Cronin now is positioned to take the helm of that plan, but at this stage he needs to show the capacity to make things work more collaboratively than they have so far. He must demonstrate the ability to overcome a disconnect that has opened between his office and those of the county clerks, the agencies overseeing elections for Oahu and the Neighbor Islands.

Those clerks this week delivered an unambiguous critique, charging publicly that Cronin has not communicated well with them. Further concerns were aired during the commission's closed executive session.

When the doors reopened again, the upshot of all this was that the commission would put its displeasure in writing and send that to the chief elections officer, hired by the panel in advance of the 2008 elections. Its chairman, William Marston, said more meetings would follow up in a month or so to gauge the progress, but they haven't been scheduled yet.

The elections office is certainly not an easy one to run in the best of times, but recent years have been especially tumultuous, with the bungling of candidate filings for a City Council special election last year, and a still-unresolved legal morass over administrative rules for the office's new voting machines.

But much still can and must be done to gear up for the demands of the 2010 election, and there is no time to lose.

The state Office of Elections is there to serve the voters who, up to this point, have not been getting the service they deserve.