Residents of the Honolulu City Council's 5th District will find out this evening who among a field of 14 candidates will represent them.

Voters have until 6 p.m. to hand-deliver their ballots to the city clerk's office in Honolulu Hale. The uncertified election results are expected within minutes afterward, city elections officer Glen Takahashi said.

The special election will determine who will fill the three-plus years left on the term of Councilman Duke Bainum, who died June 9 after suffering an aortic aneurysm.

Former Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi is seeking to return to the seat she held until last year, when she ran for mayor against incumbent Mufi Hannemann.

Others who have waged visible media campaigns are former state Sen. Matt Matsunaga, who once was the Democratic Party's nominee for lieutenant governor, and first-time candidate Nathaniel Kinney, a labor lawyer.

The district includes Manoa, Makiki, Ala Moana, McCully-Mo'ili'ili, Kapahulu, St. Louis Heights and Palolo.

Takahashi said 19,314 ballots had been received at city hall through yesterday. That's about 38.7 percent of the 49,851 ballots mailed on July 17.

Returns this week have been slower than anticipated and Takahashi is now forecasting that the total number of ballots cast will fall shy of the 45 percent of ballots returned in the 3rd District special election earlier this year.

Council Chairman Todd Apo anticipates the winner will be sworn in to office Aug. 28, with a ceremonial swearing-in scheduled for Sept. 16.