Big money was doled out to buy votes in the primary election.

Candidates vying for the three major posts — governor, lieutenant governor and mayor — spent a total of $12.4 million on campaigning, with advertising and consulting making up most of the costs.

While more money typically translates into more votes in political campaigns, a look at the final number of votes each candidate received in comparison to how much was spent shows there isn’t a magic number to win the most votes.

The five Democratic candidates for governor spent a total of $5,687,816 on their campaigns through Sept. 3, the end of the latest reporting period. A final set of disclosure filings for the primary election, including spending, is due Oct. 8. Most of that money was doled out by front runners Neil Abercrombie — $2.98 million — and Mufi Hannemann — $2.7 million.

A total of 226,536 people voted Democrat. The victor, Abercrombie, got 59.4 percent of votes, which means he spent an average of $21.86 for each of his 136,321 votes. Meanwhile, Hannemann got 37.8 percent of votes, which means he spent an average of $31.18 for each of the 86,676 votes he received.

For the Republican gubernatorial race, James “Duke” Aiona and his opponent John Carroll together spent $2,726,326 through Sept. 3. A total of 42,802 people voted Republican. Aiona, who received 93.1 percent of those votes, spent $2.3 million to date, or an average of $56.38 for each of his 40,798 votes. Carroll’s spending paled in comparison. He had spent $26,326 to date, meaning he spent an average $13.14 for each of the 2,004 votes received.

The eight major candidates for lieutenant governor together spent a total of $2,255,072 on their campaigns. (One lesser known Democrat and two independent party candidates did not report any expenditures for the election.)

A total of 216,790 people voted for a Democratic candidate. While Norman Sakamoto spent the most money among the candidates, it wasn’t enough to buy a win. Brian Schatz, who spent $606,118 on his campaign, received 34.7 percent of votes, which means he spent an average of $7.61 for each of his 79,635 votes. The runner-up, Bobby Bunda, got 19.2 percent of votes, but spent almost as much per vote as Schatz, an average of $7.15. Sakamoto spent about twice that amount, an average of $14.72 for his 42,126 votes.

For the Republican LG race, winner Lynn Finnegan spent $146,624 on her campaign. That means she spent an average of $5.63 for each of the 26,034 votes received, 59.4 percent of the votes. Her opponent Adrienne King, spent an average of $6.07 per vote for 27 percent of the votes.

In the winner-take-all mayoral race, the four main candidates spent a total of $1,503,882 on their campaigns. (Four other candidates did not report any campaign expenses.)

A total of 184,110 votes were cast for the eight mayoral candidates. Peter Carlisle spent $429,535 on his campaign and won 38.7 percent of votes. That means he spent an average of $5.71 per vote for his 75,276 votes. Runner-up Kirk Caldwell spent more than twice as much as Calisle, $889,789, but only garnered 34.6 percent of votes. He spent an average of $13.23 for each of his 67,246 votes.

Panos Prevedouros spent $107,028 on his campaign, or an average of just $2.92 per vote for his 36,627 votes, 18.9 percent of the votes. Rod Tam spent $77,530 on his campaign, or an average of $28.13 for his 2,756 votes, 1.4 percent of the votes.