Nearly 14,000 Hawai'i voters already have cast mail-in ballots for the Sept. 23 primary election, and early walk-in voting will begin Monday at designated polling places.

Approximately 68,000 voters have requested mail-in ballots, including 55,000 on O'ahu, officials said. That's 8,000 more than the 47,000 mail-in ballots that O'ahu voters cast in the 2004 primary election.

Stacks of ballot applications are arriving in the mail every day, with a week to go before the application deadline, said Honolulu City Clerk Denise DeCosta.

Absentee voting was traditionally an option for people who would be out of town on election day, or had a disability. But Hawai'i and dozens of other states have steadily discarded such restrictions.

Now, any Hawai'i voter can cast an absentee ballot by mail or in person without giving a specific reason. Nearly 80,000 voters cast absentee ballots in the 2004 primary — more than three out of 10 of the total ballots cast.

Political parties and candidates often encourage such voting in order to maximize turnout among their supporters, decrease the risk of voter change-of-heart and protect against last-minute smear campaigns.

But many voters simply find mail-in voting convenient, and election officials also have encouraged it as one way to boost civic participation and increase Hawai'i's dismal voter turnout record.

Voters have until Sept. 16 to submit applications for mail-in ballots, and have until election day on Sept. 23 to return completed ballots. But DeCosta urged voters not to wait until then to cast mail-in ballots, because it complicates and slows the counting process on election night.

"If they turn it in ahead of time, it's much better," she said. "And preferably, don't mail it in if it's two days before election day. Bring it by, either to a walk-in site or to City Hall."

Advance applications are not required for absentee walk-in voting.