Actually talking to voters is always better than listening to politicians, so last Wednesday was a good day.

I spent the morning standing outside Honolulu Hale, buttonholing people coming out of the walk-in voter site in the City Hall courtyard to ask about their voting thought process.

I didn’t ask for their names or who they voted for; just how they arrived at their decisions.

Although the voting center is downtown, it serves voters registered anywhere on Oahu, so it was a mini-micro cross-section of the voting public.

First the bad news. There were just a few voters meandering in, and while I was there the pace was sporadic, not a steady stream.

Officials say 1,300 have voted in person at Honolulu Hale or Kapolei Hale during the first two days of walk-in voting.

Rex Quidilla, the City Clerk’s elections administrator, acknowledged that walk-in voting is starting slow, but noted that two years ago voters trickled in, only to pick up in the closing days before the 2016 primary.

The good news is that voters I talked to seemed particularly knowledgeable, engaged and interested.

I asked an “over 70” retired state accountant, who said he was now freelancing his accounting services, why he voted.

“Being a U.S. citizen, it is our duty to vote and the officeholders better watch out or we will kick them out,” the feisty bookkeeper said.

The rating went like this: “For current officials, it is what they did or did not do. For newcomers, it is what they will promise and whether they say things that are sustainable or attainable.”

How much likability plays in decision-making process seems important this year. Gov. David Ige’s poll numbers seem to be increasing as more people describe him a “a nice guy.”

“Likability, I judge it 50-50. Some candidates talk too much. They can articulate, but when they get into office, it is different. With Ige and (U.S. Rep. Colleen) Hanabusa, it is not about likeability. I believe it will be trust, what they did in office.”

Another voter explained the sometimes-fickle nature of politics as she recounted that her father “was a union man, a carpenter and he said vote Democrat always.”

The retired 65-year-old Mililani speech pathologist said instead she started voting Republican when GOP Gov. Linda Lingle first won election in 2002. This time she took a Democratic ballot because, “I’m related to Jill Tokuda (a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor) so I crossed the line because of her. Also I think everyone deserves a fighting chance.”

For a semi-retired Waimanalo business owner, much of his political decisions are based on personal experience, voting for those he knows.

“I know a lot of them, so if they are they straight up, then I give them a benefit of a doubt,” he said.

The issue that voters repeatedly volunteered the most was dealing with the homeless.

A retired systems analyst, 65, said she is listening to what candidates say about the crisis.

“This is the most important, you have to help them get to someplace. A lot of them are not right in the head, so I don’t know how you help them, but we should help,” she said.

Absentee polling hours in Honolulu and Kapolei are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday to Friday. You can also register to vote and then vote at both locations.The primary election is Saturday.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.