The first thing to think about this past week's primary elections is that there were — on a historical basis — relatively few candidates on the ballot, many of whom were unopposed. That means an election where there was not much to be decided.

The second is that tens of thousands of folks who were eligible, and who participated last time around, chose to stay home this time.

Most political insiders shrug it off. After all, we have a general election to come where the stakes will be much higher.

Atop the list, of course, is the historic presidential election, which pits rock star native son Barack Obama versus an experienced and Hawai'i-familiar opponent, John McCain. No matter where you stand politically, there is plenty of reason to vote in the general.

Clearly, most of those who were energized by Obama to sign up with the Democratic Party (or even to vote for the first time!) saw no real need to participate in the primary. But they will turn out in the general, which in addition to the presidency will feature an argument over whether we should have another Constitutional Convention (a big sleeper issue), a transit question on O'ahu and other matters.

The general will also allow voters to settle three mayoral races that by rights should have been settled in the primary. The electorate apparently does not wish to see any election contest served before its time. Out of many candidates, they selected these people to move forward:

On Kaua'i, former Mayor JoAnn Yukimura seeks another round as mayor against Parks Director Bernard Carvalho Jr. On the Big Island, Billy Kenoi, a former aide to Mayor Harry Kim, will face off against councilman and community activist Angel Pilago. And on O'ahu, Mayor Mufi Hannemann fell a razor-thin edge short of beating out his opponents and will have to take on Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi in the runoff.

The common thread here is that Carvalho, Kenoi and, certainly Hannemann represented, for want of a better word, the established order. In each case, critically, they were better financed and had "establishment" credentials.

In Hannemann's case, that is obvious. While Yukimura is a former mayor, the late Kaua'i Mayor Bryan Baptiste who recently passed away had promoted Carvalho. Kenoi was closely linked to the popular incumbent Kim, although Kim did not make a formal endorsement.

What do we take from all this? Yes, it was a low-wattage election in terms of candidates and certainly of participants. But among those who did vote, they made one clear statement:

When given a choice to keep the election going and the debate continuing, they took it.

Jerry Burris' column appears Wednesdays in this space. See his blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/akamaipolitics. Reach him at jrryburris@yahoo.com.