HILO, Hawai'i — Billy Kenoi appears on track to becoming one of the youngest mayors in Big Island history, easily besting decorated Vietnam war veteran and community activist Angel Pilago in early election returns.

Kenoi, a 39-year-old former executive assistant to Big Island Mayor Harry Kim, was by far the highest vote getter in the primary, garnering more than 46 percent of the votes in a crowded primary field of eight candidates.

Early returns tonight suggest Kenoi, a high-energy campaigner, improved dramatically on that lead in the six weeks between the primary and general. He appears poised to become mayor with a majority approaching 60 percent of the general election vote.

Kenoi was the best financed candidate from the beginning, and has longstanding ties to Democratic Party leaders such as U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye. He also enjoyed support from business groups such as the Hawai'i Island Chamber of Commerce and assorted construction trades and government worker unions.

In another issue on the Big Island ballot, voters were almost evenly split in early returns on a ballot initiative that would instruct county police to make small marijuana busts their lowest law enforcement priority.

In the mayoral race, the 63-year-old Pilago is a favorite of Big Island environmentalists in part because of his many years as a community activist, but his campaign for mayor may have been a victim of bad timing.

He was elected to two terms on the council when the Big Island economy was booming, and people in his North Kona district were angry at traffic congestion and other growing pains that worsened amid rapid development.

For most of the mayoral campaign Pilago stressed his independence from developers, and criticized the status quo and "old boy politics" that many Kona residents blamed for the rapid growth that clogged West Hawai'i roads. He also opposed plans to build a $1 billion Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea because he said it wasn't clear yet how the community would benefit from the project.

Meanwhile the real estate industry was weakening across the Big Island, West Hawai'i hotels were laying off workers, construction was in a decline, and tourist arrivals were down.

All of that stirred widespread concern about the economy, which almost certainly benefited Kenoi. Business leaders tended to be leery of Pilago's rhetoric, which suggested he would be less likely than Kenoi to support proposals for new development, growth in the tourism industry or increased military spending.

On the tactical level, Pilago also apparently failed to win over voters who supported state Sen. Lorraine Inouye, the third-highest vote getter in the mayoral primary. Inouye captured about 20 percent of the vote in September, including some Big Island business leaders and labor activists, and Pilago needed to win over all of those voters and then some to best Kenoi in the general election.

Instead, early returns suggested the vast majority of Inouye's support shifted to Kenoi.

Kenoi, who is making his first run for public office, stressed a feel-good "Together We Can" theme throughout his campaign, and probably benefited from a late endorsement from his former boss, the popular Big Island Mayor Harry Kim.

Kenoi stressed his "message of hope and opportunity" even while he predicted tough times ahead for county government with a projected decline in property tax and hotel room tax revenue.

Kenoi, a former Honolulu deputy public defender, said his ability to form productive partnerships would help weather the storm ahead. He cited his experience in the Kim administration lobbying for federal money for Big Island projects.

He is probably best known for his role in Kim's so-called "War on Ice," or methamphetamine on the Big Island, which resulted in more than $9 million in federal funds being pumped into the Big Island for law enforcement, drug treatment and youth activity programs.

The centerpiece of Kenoi's campaign has been creating a comprehensive Big Island bus mass-transit system, which Kenoi says can be done for $25 million. If he fails to create the system after he is elected, Kenoi has promised not to seek re-election.

The youngest mayor ever elected on the Big Island was Shunichi Kimura, who was elected the first mayor in 1968 at age 38. Prior to winning election as mayor, Kimura also served as chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, which was the equivalent of mayor before the office of mayor was created.

On the Big Island marijuana initiative, voters appear to be rejecting a measure that would instruct police to make busts of adult, small-time marijuana users on private property the county's lowest policing priority.

The measure would apply to "personal use" of cannabis, which is defined as possession of up to 24 plants or 24 ounces of marijuana. If passed, the measure also would bar the county from accepting any further state or federal money for eradication.

The measure was advanced by an organization called Project Peaceful Sky. In an early hint that the effort might not have widespread popular support, backers were unable to get the nearly 5,000 valid signatures of registered voters they needed on petitions to get the measure on the ballot.

The County Council finally voted 5-4 to deem the petitions accepted, a step that put the question before the voters. Proponents argued the measure would free up police resources for more important law enforcement responsibilities, and help clear the courts and jails of petty marijuana cases.

Some Big Island residents have long opposed marijuana eradication because of concerns about helicopter noise, and because they consider the aerial operations above their homes an intrusion on civil liberties.

On the Big Island County Council, Councilmember Emily Naeole is in an almost tied race in her effort to win re-election to another two-year term representing Lower Puna. Naeole is opposed by Gary Safarik, a loan officer and former councilman who is trying to make a comeback after Naeole defeated him in the 2006 election.

Dennis Onishi, program director for the county's elderly recreation services, appeared in early returns to be winning by a large margin in the race to represent the council district that includes Keaukaha in Hilo, while retired farmer Kelly Greenwell had a small lead over Debbie Hecht in the contest to fill the council seat representing Kailua and North Kona.