More people signed the petition against an out-of-state restaurant trying to kapu the name “Aloha Poke” than voted for David Ige in the primary.

Over 169,000 signed the online petition while Ige, the top vote-getter in any office on the primary ballot, got 124,528 votes.

Voter turnout was awful. Shameful. Not the worst ever, but definitely in the “Aw, c’mon you guys!” zone.

Aw, c’mon you guys.

The abysmal turnout certainly is not because casting a vote requires great personal effort or a big commitment of time. Recent changes have made voting so ridiculously easy. Back in the day, newspapers would do stories about people who were unable to drive, unable to walk, lying in their deathbeds or living in drastically remote areas somehow finding ways to get to the polls to vote because doing so made them feel vital. Now you can become a registered voter on the day of the primary. That’s an amazing convenience, like being able to get on a plane the very same day you decide to fly.

You can also skip the nonexistent lines and vote before Election Day, either in person or by mail. You can sit at your kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a voters’ guide and take your sweet time deciding how to cast your valuable vote.

Because a vote is valuable. Josh Green’s friends at the Super PAC Be Change Now dropped over $1 million to make sure he gathered enough votes to come out on top of the LG pile on the Democratic slate.

I don’t think it’s because people don’t care. People do care. You can strike up a conversation about politics with anybody in the elevator or in line for their latte and get everyone’s blood going like a spin class. Hawaii residents are not apathetic. They have a lot to say about the condition of the roads. They care very much about the horrible traffic jams. The homeless people living in squalor in public parks and roadsides make people so upset and frustrated.

Perhaps it’s that Hawaii residents don’t feel that politicians have the answers to anything. Or they wonder whether the things they truly care about matter at all to politicians, who, especially during election season, seem to be more about photo ops and taking credit than doing the quiet, humble, hard work of truly improving the community.

Maybe it’s preferable to sign an online petition than cast a vote because there’s a better chance of making a change when citizens deal directly with an issue rather than pin their hopes on a posturing politician. Maybe it’s more satisfying to paint a protest sign and stand with other angry people because there’s the sense that something might actually happen if we work together and do the politicking ourselves. Going alone behind the voting booth curtain with an uninspiring ballot can feel solitary and ineffective.

The thing is, we used to be really good at this. We used to be fired up about voting. Turnout for Hawaii’s 1959 election — the first time Hawaii elected a governor — was 92.9 percent.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.