When Hawaii introduced all-mail voting in 2020, the goal was twofold: to increase voter participation by making it easier to cast your ballot — vote anytime, from your own home, no need to schlep to a polling place on Election Day — and to reduce the costs and logistics of running polling places statewide.
What happened? As of Wednesday, turnout for this year’s general election was 48.4% of registered voters, according to the state Office of Elections. That’s the lowest rate for Hawaii general elections in at least 20 years.
Moreover, people still lined up to vote in person on Election Day. And while those voters represented just a fraction of the total — only 1.9% of ballots, or 16,688, were cast in person — they waited in long lines at the few available voting centers.
Since anyone waiting in line by Tuesday’s 7 p.m. deadline could cast a ballot, the last polling place didn’t close until about 8 p.m. Only then could the first results, already tallied and ready to go, be released to the public.
Why would people endure such an inconvenience? Last-day voters gave various reasons: They don’t trust the mail-in system; they like the tradition of voting in person on Election Day (“It’s fun,” said one Maui voter); they lost or spoiled their ballots; they didn’t know about the whole mail-in thing.
Understandable reasons, yes. But compelling? Not really. The system would work better if everyone mailed in, delivered or cast their in-person ballot well in advance of Election Day. You can track your ballot online to make sure it has been received and counted. Any problems or technical glitches could be corrected before it’s too late. It’s also safer: Voting in person requires the state Office of Elections to ensure it did not receive or count the ballot mailed earlier to the voter.
But voting is more than a set of procedures; it’s a sacred right of citizenship in a democracy. If a significant number of voters want or need to cast their ballot in person, they should have that option. And 16,688 is a significant number; several legislative races were decided by a mere handful of votes.
There’s no reason for the state to abandon the current system. But expanding the number of centers for Election Day voting should be considered.
There’s one each on Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kauai, and two each on Oahu and Hawaii island. If possible, one or two additional sites — with adequate parking and staffing — should be added on Maui and Oahu. For now, as evidenced by Tuesday’s long lines, voting in person on Election Day still has value.
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