Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawa­uchi said she was unaware that the state chief election officer was investigating her performance and "strongly disagrees" with his findings of failed leadership and poor planning in the primary election.

Kawauchi has drawn a firestorm of criticism about her handling of the Aug. 11 primary in Hawaii County, where failure to open a number of precincts on time prompted Gov. Neil Abercrombie to issue an emergency proclamation extending voting by 90 minutes.

Even before election day, there were questions about whether Kawa­uchi was prepared to handle the primary, and she had been criticized for lack of communication with state officials and the public.

But it was Kawa­uchi who accused the state of not properly communicating after findings of the investigation were made public Thursday.

In an email sent Thursday night, Kawa­uchi said Chief Election Officer Scott Nago never contacted her or allowed her to respond to his report.

"This lack of communication on his part does not help to improve or address the significant issues that Hawaii County and the state Office of Elections obviously need to overcome to work together in partnership to run an election," Kawa­uchi said.

"I strongly disagree with the state Office of Elections and their assessment that there was failed leadership, poor planning and implementation by me on primary election day. Yes, there were errors that occurred on primary election day. However, this is not a perfect system, mistakes will be made and 100 percent accuracy should not be expected. Mr. Nago is being overly critical and he is failing to see that the big-picture goal is to get through the elections."

Nago described Kawa­uchi, who was overseeing her first election, as an inexperienced county clerk who lacked the confidence and the ability to articulate the nature of the problem to state election officials or the public. The report concludes that Kawa­­uchi’s performance unnecessarily undermined public confidence in the election.

Kawauchi responded, "I note that in the usual course, if an investigation is conducted, notice and an opportunity to respond is expected, prior to the release of the findings of the investigation to the public and the media. Regrettably, Mr. Nago did not provide me with an opportunity to respond to his report or to provide comment prior to release."

She said she met with precinct officials after the primary and talked about "the solutions that we can work toward for an improved experience for the general election.

"This tells me that Hawaii County is moving forward to doing everything that we can to have a fair and well-run (general) election."

Abercrombie issued a proclamation Aug. 11 to extend voting hours in Hawaii County by 90 minutes after reports that several of the county’s 40 precincts had not opened as scheduled at 7 a.m.

Nago’s investigation found that 13 precincts in Hawaii County opened late. Two West Hawaii precincts opened nearly an hour late, and two others in West Hawaii were not opened until 8:40 a.m.

Before election day there were concerns about whether Kawa­uchi was prepared to handle the election and whether the voting in Hawaii County would go smoothly. Kawa­uchi’s decision to close her Hilo office for a day in late July to address an internal audit of the 2010 vote, and her lack of communications with state election officials, prompted Nago to send an experienced elections staffer to Hawaii island, and the attorney general’s office also assigned a deputy to the island on primary election day.

A special meeting has been scheduled for Monday for the Hawaii County Council to discuss and review the primary.