A rare open U.S. Senate seat. The rise of super PACs. A beleaguered multibillion-dollar public transit project so controversial that it has thoroughly warped several Honolulu races and rejiggered party politics.
Indeed, this year’s election is brimming with novelty.
Perhaps most striking, however, is the sweeping trend toward early voting.
As of Nov. 3 nearly 182,000 voters statewide had cast early ballots, far eclipsing the 152,000 ballots cast early in Hawaii’s 2010 general. And county officials, speaking to Civil Beat Monday, expect the number to grow pending final tallies of absentee ballots received Monday and Tuesday.
This year’s absentee turnout even exceeds the number of early ballots cast in the election that put Hawaii’s own, President Barack Obama, in the White House. Less than 176,000 people voted early in the 2008 election.
Hawaii voters can choose to vote early either by visiting the designated early voting locations or by mailing the ballot to the county clerk by the day of the election. The last day for walk-in voting was Saturday. Lines at the various walk-in voting locations on Friday were snaking out the doors, officials said.
As of Nov. 3 clerks statewide had counted nearly 140,000 mail-in ballots — that’s 24 percent more than the number of mail-in ballots counted in the 2010 general election. More than 174,000 early ballots were mailed out statewide.
Mail-in ballots this year have formed the bulk of early voting, with all four counties far surpassing their 2010 mail-in numbers.
The surge in absentee ballots echos trends seen in the Aug. 11 primary, when more than 142,000 voters cast early ballots.
But, unlike the primary, this election’s early turnout wasn’t marked by a decline in early walk-in voting.
In all counties except Hawaii County, early walk-in voting this general election was more popular than it was in 2010, counties’ final tallies show.
Nearly 42,000 ballots statewide were cast early through walk-in voting, up from 39,000 in the 2010 election.
One of the most marked increases in early walk-in voting was seen in Kauai County, whose early voting trends make it somewhat of an anomaly. According to county elections administrator Linden Yoshioka, more than 3,800 voters did early walk-in voting, a 33 percent increase from the 2010 election. Mail-in numbers, however, didn’t jump much from the 7,100 early mail-in ballots cast in 2010. As of Saturday, Kauai’s elections office had received only 7,700 mail-in ballots.
Increases in early voting have been most pronounced in Hawaii County, where the number of mail-in ballots more than doubled from that in 2010. As of Nov. 3, the county’s election office had received more than 20,000 mail-in ballots. In 2010, the number was 8,000.
The dramatic upswing in mail-in voting on the Big Island was also seen in the primary, when the number of mail-in ballots more than doubled from that in the 2010 primary.
Hawaii County’s early turnout is of particular interest considering the ongoing saga surrounding the island’s botched primary that ultimately prompted state elections officials to rescind key responsibilities given to the county’s clerk, Jamae Kawauchi. Elections officials have blamed Kawauchi, who hadn’t run an election before this year, for a series of interconnected mishaps, including the delayed opening of 13 Big Island polling places on primary day.
Critics attribute the election-day fiasco to Kawauchi’s decision to fire the county’s experienced elections administrator earlier this year. After the primary, colleagues and other elections officials sought Kawauchi’s cooperation in a number of efforts to troubleshoot any remaining administrative issues but to little avail, according to state elections spokesman Rex Quidilla.
That’s when state elections officials in early October decided to take back oversight of election-day operations on the Big Island — an unprecedented move that has since placed Lori Tomczyk, an Oahu-based ballot operations administrator, and several other Hilo-based staff in the island’s elections office.
Now, Kawauchi’s responsibilities are those strictly limited to county clerks: voter registration and early voting.
Maui County, home to the some of the worst voter turnout in the state, also saw a significant surge in mail-in ballots. As of Nov. 3, its elections office had received more than 12,000 absentee ballots, up by more than 30 percent from the 2010 general election, when only 9,200 Maui voters mailed their ballots early.
And as of Saturday, more than 4,000 Maui County voters opted to cast early walk-in ballots — up from 3,700 in the 2010 general election.
Hawaii’s early voting trends suggest that, unsurprisingly, voters are gravitating toward convenience. It also reflects the popularity of the state’s permanent absentee program, which was initiated in 2010.
“It’s easier,” said Maui County elections administrator Shirley Magarifuji. “They cast their ballot and don’t have to worry about it.”
Magarfuji said the growing popularity of absentee voting options will continue to shape elections — perhaps to the point that, as Civil Beat speculated in August, the concept of “Election Day” is obsolete.
Hawaii’s early turnout reflects a national movement toward early voting.
Early voting data has garnered much attention from the national media, particularly because absentee ballots — particularly those in key battleground states — have put Obama in the lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Early voting is more popular among Democrats than it is among Republicans. Some have questioned the accuracy of election polls, which critics say don’t reflect the opinions of early voters.
But it remains to be seen whether early voting will enhance voter turnout in Hawaii, which has the lowest participation rate in the nation. Absentee turnout for this year’s primary set a new record, but only 42 percent of registered voters actually cast ballots.
DISCUSSION: Did you vote early this year?
