Absentee voting in Honolulu and Hawaii counties probably will hit an all-time high with just two days left before the state's pivotal general elections. Record number of isle voters
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By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comOn Oahu, more than 20,000 people are expected to vote at absentee walk-in polling places by the time those polling places close today, while 55,000 absentee mail-in ballots have been sent out.
The record for the general election was set in 2000, when about 15,000 Oahu voters used walk-in ballots and about 39,000 people voted absentee by mail, said Glen Takahashi, election administrator for Honolulu.
There were also record numbers of absentee walk-in and mail-in ballots in Hawaii County.
Hawaii County officials said there were 7,754 walk-in voters and 6,612 mail-in ballots issued as of yesterday afternoon. In 2000, 7,268 people voted walk-in and 4,410 used mail-in ballots.
"We've been seeing an increase by leaps and bounds," said Takahashi. "It just keeps going up."
Voter turnout on Tuesday will be the key factor in many election contests, including the too-close-to-call race for governor and lieutenant governor. Democrat and Republican party officials say every vote will count.
"It is extremely important," said Micah Kane, Hawaii GOP chairman.
"The Democrats' strategy was to try and take the campaigns into the gutter and, I think, to discourage voters from turning out, because a low voter turnout is a vote for the status quo," Kane said.
Lorraine Akiba, Democratic Party chairwoman, said voter turnout is important for their candidates, and believes turnout will be higher than in the 2000 general election. Hawaii ranked last in turnout that year among eligible voters, and in the middle of the pack among registered voters.
"I think, historically, our base votes have always been ethnic minorities or core Democratic voters," Akiba said. "We just have to make sure that we facilitate that."
The other two counties say they expect number of absentee voters remain about the same or to go up slightly.
Takahashi believes more and more people favor absentee voting because it is convenient. Once they try it, they rarely go back to the polling places, he said.
"It's just one of those things that it's so easy to vote by mail," he said.
Absentee walk-in voting ends at 4 p.m. today statewide. Absentee mail-in ballots must be received by the Elections Office by 6 p.m. on election day to be counted.
Absentee voting was pushed especially hard this election year by public worker unions and political parties, and it did make a difference.
For example, in this year's Democratic primary election for governor, the 2,603-vote difference between Hirono and Ed Case could be attributed to the absentee votes, which helped Hirono to victory.
"It does appear that voter turnout is going to be key on not only the governor's race, but on a lot of the lesser races in the state House and Senate," said state Rep. Willie Espero (D, Ewa Beach), who won a state Senate seat outright in September's primary election.
"I think some of those races are going to be close, and whoever can bring out their supporters and voters will be the ones that will squeak by, one way or another," he said.
Bringing out the vote has been a long-standing campaign of the national programs like Kids Voting USA, which seeks public and private partnerships to educate youths and adults about the voting process.
For the first time this year, children in Hawaii can vote in mock online elections at www.kidsvotinghawaii.org.
Another national effort is Freedom's Answer, a nonpartisan voter turnout drive aimed at young people created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Bryce Mendez, vice chairman of the Hawaii State Student Council and a King Kekaulike High School student, said as participants in that program, they want to encourage voting by educating young people on citizenship and on how crucial it is to stay active in civic duties.
"Voter turnout is very important for the state of Hawaii because the turnout proves that its citizens, of much diverse cultures, do come together and unify themselves to support the ideals and privileges of this great country," Mendez said.
