JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
A man votes in a polling booth on Thursday at Honolulu Hale.
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The number of Oahu voters who have turned in their primary election ballots has exceeded the total number of votes cast in the 2016 primary, according to numbers released by the city Elections Division late Tuesday.
The city reported collecting 28,023 ballot envelopes on Tuesday while an additional 256 people voted in person at Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale. That brings this year’s current total to 183,116 votes cast, eclipsing the 169,531 votes counted in 2016, the last time there was a Honolulu mayor’s race.
Saturday is primary election day in Hawaii. This election is the first in Hawaii to use an “all-mail” voting process. The city mailed out 457,000 ballot packages late last month, three times the number of absentee ballots it mailed out two years ago to those voters who requested them, City Clerk Glen Takahashi said last week.
State and city elections official say the high numbers prove what they’ve been arguing for a while: That all-mail voting leads to greater participation.
“We’re putting the ballot in front of way more eyes than we normally would, right?” Takahashi said.
The highest primary election turnout on Oahu since 2000 was the 207,437 votes tallied in 2010. Two years ago, there were 189,421 votes cast on the island in the primary.
To ensure their votes are counted, those who did not mail their ballots by Monday are advised to drop off their envelopes at one of two Oahu Voter Service Centers or one of six drop boxes around the island through
7 p.m. Saturday. Those who have not registered to vote may do so at either of the Voter Services Centers at Honolulu Hale or Kapolei Hale through Saturday. For more informtion, go to.
honolulu.gov/elections.
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