Voters can begin casting ballots next week for the Jan. 4 special election for Congress, but there will be no walk-in absentee voting in the 2nd Congressional District on Oahu or Molokai, according to the state Office of Elections. Absentee balloting
Absentee polling places
will begin next weekBy Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.comWalk-in absentee voting begins Wednesday and runs through Jan. 2 at Honolulu Hale on Oahu; county buildings in Maui, Kauai and Hilo; and the Keauhou Shopping Center in Kona. But the walk-in absentee voting sites at Pearlridge Center, Windward Mall and on Molokai used in the primary and general elections will not be open.
"I don't know what the rationale is for not doing it," said Ed Case, who won the Nov. 30 special election to fill the last five weeks of the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink's current term and also is running in the Jan. 4 special election.
The Jan. 4 election is necessary because Mink posthumously won re-election in the Nov. 5 general election. She died Sept. 28 after suffering from viral pneumonia for a month.
Case wrote a letter last month to Chief Election Officer Dwayne Yoshina asking that the state provide absentee walk-in voting places on Molokai and in Kapolei, Windward Oahu or Wahiawa.
The 2nd Congressional District encompasses the neighbor islands and Windward Oahu, the North Shore and much of Leeward Oahu.
Honolulu County Clerk Genny Wong said it would cost about $3,500 for phone lines and staff to open sites at Windward Mall and Pearlridge. "It ($3,500) is so manini to get people to go out and vote," Case said.
During the Nov. 30 election, only 350 people on Oahu cast walk-in absentee ballots at Honolulu Hale compared with 2,600 people on the Big Island, 1,180 on Kauai and 720 on Maui.
Case said those numbers show the need for early voting sites where voters live.
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Absentee voting
Voters can cast absentee ballots from Wednesday through Jan. 2 for the special election to fill the two-year term won posthumously by U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink.
Eligible voters are reminded to bring a picture identification.
Locations and times are:
>> Oahu: Honolulu Hale, 2nd Floor, Room 205 at 530 S. King St., Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
>> Kauai: Historic County Building, 4396 Rice St., Lihue, Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
>> Maui: Office of the County Clerk, 7th Floor, 200 S. High St. in Wailuku, Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
>> Big Island: Hilo County Building, 25 Aupuni St., Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Keauhou Shopping Center, 76-6831 Alii Drive in Kailua-Kona, Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All sites will be closed on Christmas and New Year's Day.
Absentee mail-in applications are available through the county clerks on each island. Applications must be received by Dec. 28, but voters requesting ballots by mail are advised to apply early.
State Office of Elections
