Voters turned up in force at major voter service centers in Hawaii on Election Day, either to drop off ballots or vote in person.
There were short lines at Honolulu Hale when polls opened at 7 a.m., which grew longer by midmorning and stretched down to the sidewalk by about 11 a.m. By the afternoon, officials shifted the line onto a lawn area beneath the shade of palm trees. The line continued through closing time at 7 p.m., when wait times had increased to more than an hour.
Also, a steady stream of motorists used the drive-thru to deliver ballots at the drop box near the front entrance. At midday idling vehicles wound around the block to Beretania Street.
Statewide, there were no reports of major issues affecting work at voter service centers, according to Nedielyn Bueno, spokesperson for the state Office of Elections.
While Hawaii voters had until Tuesday evening to cast votes in various races — gubernatorial and congressional as well as key legislative and Council seats, Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees, and the mayors of Maui and Kauai counties — the majority of the state’s voters — more than 213,000 — had already sent in their ballots by mail. Slightly more than 4,000 voted in person by Monday, according to the Honolulu Elections Division.
Officials were hoping that the general election voter turnout would top that for the Aug. 13 primary election’s turnout of about 40%. And it seemed as if many voters waited until the last day to vote, according to Honolulu City Clerk Glenn Takahashi.
By about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Takahashi estimated roughly 1,800 voters had been serviced at both the Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale voting service centers, with an even split between the two sites. The midmorning numbers surpassed those for all of Monday, he said, when about 1,000 in-person voters were processed.
“That gives you an idea of how many people got energized at the last moment,” Takahashi said. “I find it encouraging, and I’m glad people are using their holiday, if they have one, to vote.”
Given that voting by mail had been available for the last 20 days, and voting service centers had been open for 10 days, he attributed the Election Day turnout to “the natural human tendency to wait until the last minute.”
At Kapolei Hale, which offered the options of voting in person or dropping off ballots at a drop box, some voters reportedly had to wait from 45 minutes to two hours to get into the voter service center, with a line holding steady after 7 p.m.
Kathryn Healy of Honolulu stood on the lawn outside of Honolulu Hale on Tuesday morning with her service dog, Royce. Healy waited more than a half hour for her adult children to cast their ballots. She then handed over the dog and headed to the voting booths.
Healy said for her it was important to vote in person rather than by mail. “I wanted to go back to voting the way I always have, traditional,” she said. “That’s how I learned to vote. My whole life it’s been in person.”
Kenneth Tea of Honolulu said it took 30 to 40 minutes to get through the line Tuesday morning and that he voted in person due to a recent move and address change he was not able to straighten out online. “I’m happy I did it,” he said.
Keane Ishii of Honolulu rode over on a Biki bike to drop off his ballot in the yellow drop box. He said his signed ballot had been in his desk awhile but that he had been busy and Election Day was a day off. Noting that he has voted in every election since he has been able to, Ishii said this year’s elections were important. “I think if more people voted, then the government would be more representative of what people want,” he said.
Anjie Pham rode a bus from Waikiki to Honolulu Hale to drop off her ballot.
This is a key year, Pham said, with a governor to choose, along with congressional representatives and four Oahu charter amendments. She took time to research the ballot questions and candidates. This year, Pham said, she was most concerned about women’s rights, the state of democracy, gun violence and the environment. “There’s so much vitriol going on and so much misinformation, too,” she said.
Kathy Parcels, a Trump supporter wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, said she voted in person because she did not like or trust the mail-in ballot process. She waited about 40 minutes in line to vote Tuesday morning but did not mind, and said going in person was the patriotic thing to do.
By evening the wait got longer as last-minute voters continued to get in line. Kailua resident Robin Cadirao said he shredded the mail-in ballot he received, and waited an hour and a half to vote in person Tuesday evening. “I don’t believe in that (mail-in ballots),” said Cadirao. “I believe in Election Day, not election month.”
On Maui, meanwhile, there were lines from the time the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku — the only voter service center for the island — opened at 7 a.m., according to James Krueger, deputy county clerk.
A steady stream of voters throughout the day cast ballots on the Valley Isle, including first-time voter Gabriel Rosenbloom, 19, of Kahului, who just got his driver’s license.
Rosenbloom was in line with his father, Jason Rosenbloom, who had opted for early voting. “It was great — very easy, very simple,” said Gabriel. “We were in line for, like, 45 minutes to register and vote.”
Aside from the fact he would not have been able to vote early without proper ID, he wanted to vote in person “to have that experience because I haven’t done it before.” In the future, however, he said he would probably mail his ballot in “because it’s more convenient.”
Rosenbloom’s father said he was “super proud” of his son for voting.
During the August primary, long lines formed at the Maui center, a site where voting did not go as smoothly, resulting in irate voters and a delay in results.
“We do think that things are going better than they did in the primary,” Krueger said. “We brought on a lot more staff, so that’s been a huge help. We set up more locations at the center where people can go into the booths and vote. We really upped our capacity.”
Voters are still required to fill out a verification form, he said, but the county sped up the process by accepting driver’s licenses, along with a simple name, signature and check on a box confirming they were present.
By closing time, however, the lines remained long in Wailuku. Voters had until 7 p.m. Tuesday to drop off their ballots at a drop box or to get in line for a booth. All voters standing in line by 7 p.m. were given the opportunity to cast a ballot.
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Star-Advertiser deputy content editor Christie Wilson and courts reporter Leila Fujimori contributed to this report.
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