Only 375,000 Hawaii ballots had been returned by Monday — a day ahead of
today’s election — suggesting that the total number of votes cast by tonight will trail the previous presidential race in 2020.
Anything could happen by the time the final votes are counted tonight in the race for president between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Statewide, all 51 House seats and
13 of 25 Senate seats will be decided, along with two state constitutional amendments.
But this year’s volume of general election ballots so far suggests little voter enthusiasm compared with the 2020 presidential race, which former President Donald Trump lost to President Joe Biden.
Ballots are mailed to all registered voters in the state and can be returned by mail or dropped off in person at designated locations. As of Monday only 44% of registered voters had returned ballots.
In 2020, 69.6% of Hawaii’s registered voters cast 579,784 ballots — with 95% of them, 551,036, overwhelmingly voting by mailing in their ballots.
Mail-in ballots accounted for more than 357,000 of the more than 375,000 total ballots that had been returned by Monday, compared with only 18,000 people who have voted in person.
In this year’s general election, voters have continued Hawaii’s embrace of mail-in voting.
But both Hawaii Elections Chief Scott Nago and Honolulu Election Administrator Rex Quidilla are prepared to see a repeat of Election Day 2020, when long lines encircled Kapolei Hale and Honolulu Hale, along with voter service centers in every other county.
None of them could close their doors by the scheduled 7 p.m. end of voting, which delayed the release of the 2020 election results.
When Honolulu’s voter service centers opened at
8 a.m. Monday, “there was a short line at both Honolulu and Kapolei Hales,” Quidilla told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a text.
By state law, any eligible voter in line by 7 p.m. tonight must be allowed to vote and can even register and vote on Election Day.
Today, Honolulu’s voter service centers are scheduled to open at 7 a.m.
To help move today’s lines along, both Nago and Quidilla are urging in-person voters to register to vote in advance online by visiting olvr.hawaii.gov, including anyone who needs to
update their names, addresses or signatures.
People who still need to register to vote online or in person also must have a valid Hawaii driver’s license or state ID card and provide their Social Security
numbers.
Other than this year’s presidential race, there has been little interest to generate any large Hawaii-wide voter turnout, such as a race for governor.
Voters across all the islands will decide two proposed amendments to the state Constitution.
One would strip the Legislature of the power granted previously by voters to restrict marriage to only couples of opposite genders, which legislators have not done.
Since then, state law now allows same-sex marriages.
The other constitutional amendment would make the state Senate confirmation process for state District Court judges similar to the selection of judges to Hawaii’s Circuit Courts, Intermediate Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court.
The amendment, if approved by voters, would still allow District Court judges to be appointed by Hawaii’s chief justice, while the governor would continue to appoint judges to Hawaii’s higher courts, but their
confirmation processes would be more uniform.
Voters across the state this year also have choices between several county charter amendments, depending on which island they live on.
There are some close House and Senate races, some involving strong challenges to Republican incumbents and some involving first-time Republican and Democratic candidates that only voters in those districts will decide.
Out of the 25-member state Senate, only two
are Republicans; only six
Republicans serve in the 51-member House.
So with tight races and first-time Republicans and Democrats against one another, voters will determine by the end of the night whether the number of Republicans increases, slips or stays the same.
Much of the GOP’s recent gains have come in West Oahu.
But three West side freshman Republican House members face serious Democratic challengers, as does state Sen. Brenton Awa (R, Kaneohe-Laie-Mokuleia), whose vast and politically
diverse district generally
includes traditional Asian Democrats in Kaneohe, more socially conservative voters farther north and politically divided voters across the entire North Shore.
Awa’s Democratic challenger, Ben Shafer, received more Democratic votes in the August primary than Awa did in his Republican Party primary.
On the West side the same thing happened to Reps.
David Alcos III (R, Ocean Pointe-Barbers Point), Elijah Pierick (R, Royal Kunia-Waipahu-Honouliuli) and
Diamond Garcia (R, Ewa-Kapolei).
They’re being challenged by Democrats John Clark III (Alcos), Corey Rosenlee (Pierick) and Anthony Davis (Garcia).
Another competitive race, on Hawaii island, has incumbent Mayor Mitch Roth up against challenger Kimo Alameda, along with several races for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Roth received more votes in August than Alameda, but not a majority. So Hawaii County voters will decide whether Roth serves a second term or the Big Island gets a new mayor.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi won reelection by a landslide in August so, unlike Roth, did not have to face an opponent in the general election.
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