The campaign signs are popping up, but otherwise the 2020 primary election seems to be an afterthought for Hawaii residents consumed and isolated by the coronavirus pandemic.

We are missing the rallies, fundraisers and door-to-door canvassing. Sign-wavers are scarce. And even voting will be done remotely, via mail-in ballots, instead of in-person at polling places.

But the Aug. 8 election will be consequential — especially so for the City and County of Honolulu, population 953,000.

Voters will choose a new mayor to succeed Kirk Caldwell, now struggling to control a runaway pandemic train. His successor will have to keep it from crashing.

Declining revenues led to projections of budget shortfalls of $130 million or more for the next fiscal year. Should the trend continue, hard decisions will have to be made about need-to-have versus nice-to-have, to paraphrase a previous mayor. The beleaguered rail project, which depends on the general excise and hotel room taxes, could be in the hole by $100 million — through October. And there is no end in sight for this coronavirus; it could take years before we’re healthy again, and the next mayor will need to lead the recovery with competence and confidence.

So now more than ever, Oahu voters must choose their next mayor carefully, even with the suspension of the usual campaigning.

Fortunately, the technology many people have adopted to connect to each other remotely — Zoom, Google Meet, etc. — also makes it easier for voters to size up the candidates, all from the comfort of everyone’s own homes.

On Wednesday, nine Honolulu mayoral candidates — Keith Amemiya, Rick Blangiardi, Ernest Caravalho, John Carroll, Karl Dicks, Tim Garry, Colleen Hanabusa, Choon James and Kymberly Pine — made their pitches through a Zoom forum facilitated by Kokua Council, a nonprofit that advocates for seniors. If you don’t know much about these candidates — and most people probably don’t — the forum serves as a useful introduction (www.facebook.com/malama.oiaio.3/videos/130424721986207/).

More candidates may jump into the race; the filing deadline is Tuesday. So we will need more of these forums before the primary election, especially with candidates addressing one other directly, debate-style.

To win the mayor’s office outright, the winner needs to take 50% plus 1 of the Aug. 8 vote. Otherwise, the top two finishers advance to the Nov. 3 general election. So do your research, and choose wisely. The margin between victory and defeat may be narrow, and your primary election vote could make all the difference.