Despite mayoral contests on O'ahu, Kaua'i and the Big Island, the state Office of Elections reported historically low voter turnout in yesterday's primary election.

Only 35 percent of Hawai'i's registered voters participated in the primary, with nearly 46,000 fewer ballots cast on election day than in the 2006 primary. Absentee voting also dropped, by almost 20,000 ballots.

Voter turnout was highest on Kaua'i, where 44 percent of registered voters cast ballots. Participation on O'ahu was 35 percent, and on the Big Island, 39 percent.

In the Maui primary, which featured lackluster state races and only three contested council seats, turnout was a paltry 20 percent.

Voter turnout has been declining in Hawai'i, with only 42 percent of registered voters participating in the 2006 primary and 53 percent in the general election.

Ten years ago, voter turnout in the primary was 50 percent. Since then, participation has barely climbed above 40 percent.

Going into yesterday's election, voter registration stood at 667,647, up nearly 2 percent from the 2006 primary.

Office of Elections spokesman Rex Quidilla reported no major glitches during voting yesterday at Hawai'i's 339 polling stations, although some voters seemed confused with the new ballots.

Quidilla also reported no problems getting voting results from the polls to the election center at the state Capitol where they were tabulated. Trouble last night with the elections office Web site had to do with reporting election results to the public and had nothing to do with actual vote-counting, he said.

Voters who came to the polls prepared had little trouble, but others apparently were taken aback when confronted with the new paper ballots and new electronic voting machines that were provided as an option, primarily to accommodate disabled voters, Quidilla said.

"We haven't gotten the sense there was any confusion," he said.

The paper ballots did not contain the familiar color-coding used in past elections to highlight candidates by political party. Instead, voters were required to select a party by filling in a box and carefully voting for only the candidates in their selected party.

If voters failed to fill in a party box or voted for state or federal candidates in other parties, their votes were rejected. Such voter errors did not affect votes cast in nonpartisan county and Board of Education races.

Mililani resident Dave Rolf voted at Mililani Uka Elementary School and said he expects more spoiled ballots this year if voters just put an "X" or a checkmark in the political party box instead of filling it completely in.

In addition, ballot instructions were printed at the bottom of the ballot instead of the top, Rolf said.

Quidilla said ballots with a checkmark or "X" in the box likely were counted when scanned, but completely darkening the box as instructed "ensures the vote is counted."

Some voters seemed thrown off by having to choose a political party, believing if they did so, they would not be able to cast a ballot in the nonpartisan Honolulu mayor's race.

Others complained it was difficult to determine which candidates were running for which office. For example, on the Democratic ballot, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie was listed above state Rep. Lyla Berg of the 18th House District, making it appear to some as if the two were running against each other. The same was true on the GOP ballot, where U.S. House candidate Steve Tataii appeared to be challenging state Rep. Gene Ward of the 17th District.

Quidilla said the ballots were changed because the state picked a new vendor to run the election, Hart InterCivic.

A legal challenge over the $43.4 million contract awarded to Hart InterCivic that was filed by a competing company prevented state elections staff from working with Hart on an educational video about the new ballots that would have helped prepare voters.

Quidilla said the elections office did mail out 400,000 brochures spelling out voting requirements and displaying ballot samples.

"One of the issues we encountered is that people are not familiar with the concept of partisan primary elections," he said.

Voters will have an easier time with ballots in the Nov. 4 general election, he said, because they will not be restricted to voting for candidates from a single political party.

Although voters were given a choice of casting a paper ballot or using the new electronic voting machines, only one device was provided per polling station. In some cases, voters who wanted to use the machines faced a longer wait, and in at least one instance, the voting machine didn't work due to technical difficulties.

"One of the cords wasn't working," said May Fujii Foo, precinct chairwoman at the Mililani High School cafeteria poll. "It was out for the first two hours. The trouble-shooter came to fix it, and to reprogram it. It's working fine now. But then, we haven't had too many people ask to use the electronic machine."

Precinct officials in Hilo said most voters pulled paper ballots rather than vote electronically.

One who selected paper was special education teacher Susy Rivera, 47, who said she was "a little worried about the electronics without having a backup to it." She didn't rule out electronic voting in the future.

"I'd like to see how that pans out, but I don't want to be the one with the lost vote," she said.

Hilo air traffic controller David Peralta said that after the vote-counting troubles in the 2000 presidential election, he prefers a paper trail.

"Electronic voting is vulnerable," he said, adding that he would object if the state didn't offer him the option of a paper ballot. "I would, because they could completely erase your vote and nobody would even know about it."

Polls were scheduled to open at 7 a.m. but four on O'ahu opened late for various reasons, including staffing.

Quidilla said the elections office entered the primary about 200 poll workers short of the 3,600 needed.

Voter Dave Glaspell arrived at 6:30 a.m. at Kuhio Elementary School, which didn't open until just before 8.

"The poll workers are all here, but they don't have all of the supplies, and the chairman is not here," said Glaspell, who stayed to cast his ballot.

Also getting off to a late start were polls at Koko Head, Lincoln and Pauoa elementary schools, which all opened by 8 a.m., Quidilla said.

Voters have until Oct. 6 to register for the general election.

Staff writers David Waite, Kevin Dayton and Will Hoover contributed to this story.