Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Poll books lost,
machines exchanged,
but results OK
Yoshina said problems were
caught, didn't affect
election integrityELECTION RESULTS ONLINE
Election Results
By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin
As in the primary election, two precincts — Kaimuki High School and Kapalama Elementary School — returned ballots and poll books and empty red envelopes that should have held the precincts’ computer cards.
Chief elections officer Dwayne Yoshina said the elections staff is currently retracing the steps from the precinct to the Capitol to locate the two cards.
In the primary election, the cards were found still in the machines, but it took some time to find someone to reopen the precincts, Yoshina said.
“If push came to shove, we could run the ballots again,” Yoshina said.
The first printout of the evening was held until after 8 p.m. while elections officials waited for the precincts to close.
While long lines were a factor in the tardy printout, Yoshina said the long wait could have been the result of officials at some precincts forgetting to call in saying they were closed.
“Probably the people who have worked hard all day just closed up and went home,” Yoshina said.
The elections office learned the precincts had closed after the ballots and other materials were turned in at a supply collection point.
Although the printouts were ready at 6:30 p.m., they were held more than an hour and a half so that the results wouldn’t unduly influence a voter, Yoshina said.
Yoshina said that the law is his motivation for holding the results, but would be “more than happy to deal with it,” should the state Legislature choose to change the law.
Yoshina said he hadn’t yet had time to examine any of the close races to determine whether any warranted an audit.
“I will be asking ES & S to confirm is there is a close race or not a close race,” he said.
At Haleiwa and Heeia schools today, the official poll books were misplaced, but chief elections officer Dwayne Yoshina said they were able to use the list of registered voters to let people sign in.
He said they later found the poll books and they were used as the list of voters.
He said some voters left because they had to go to work. When they called to complain, they were asked to come back into the precinct again but doesn’t know if they did.
Yoshina said roughly a dozen ballot-counting machines had to be swapped out. This is a good because this shows that the system is working, he said.
No results were lost and the integrity wasn’t compromised, Yoshina said. Because this happened early inthe morning, it didn’t contribute to the long lines this evening.
According to Rex Quidilla, elections spokesman, he said that when the machines are swapped out, the computer card with the results are transferred into the new machine.
Quidilla said: “We’re quite happy with the election. It’s working out quite well.”
He said the long lines are a result of “bookend voting.” People vote early in the morning before work or immediately after work.
One of the complaints was that there was only one ballot counting machine at large precincts, and Yoshina said that this is supposed to take care of the load that the elections office anticipates but he said “this is part of our learning curve.”
An official with the company providing the election machines says two counters were at 20 large precincts.
General Election Guide
