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UPDATED (09/19 — 8 p.m.) — As Civil Beat suspected, the “final” report Sunday morning did not include all ballots. The story has been changed again to reflect Printout No. 5. Overall turnout has now barely eclipsed the gubernatorial primary low water mark set in 2002. The links below will take you to the most recent version of the data.

UPDATED (09/19 — 12 p.m.) — This story has been changed to reflect the final election results released Sunday morning.

ORIGINAL STORY POSTED SATURDAY SEPT. 18

Despite a heated governor’s primary and mayoral race, turnout Saturday was nearly the lowest ever in a gubernatorial year.

The proportion of Hawaii voters that turned out for Saturday’s primary election barely avoided being the smallest for any gubernatorial primary election in recent history. In Honolulu, given an opportunity to place a mayor and prosecutor in office for two years via special elections, voters were only marginally more motivated.

Of 684,481 registered Hawaii voters, 292,838 (42.8 percent) cast a ballot, according to the final report published Sunday. That rate was slightly higher than the 2002 turnout of 41.1 percent — the low for a gubernatorial primary year. In 2008, when there was no gubernatorial race at the top of the ballot, just 36.9 percent of registered voters participated in the primary election.

The 2008 election had the lowest turnout percentage dating back to and including 1992, the earliest year for which election results are available on the state’s website. Prior to this year, the five most recent primary elections had averaged a turnout of just under 40 percent. The 2010 primary numbers fit into that trend, which is a stark contrast to the high turnouts of yesteryear; the average primary turnout from 1992 through 1998 was 56 percent.

Statewide Primary Election Results

Source: Hawaii Office of Elections records

The low primary turn out does not bode well for the general election.

Primaries tend to have higher turnout in governor election years, while general elections have higher turnout in presidential election years. The reason is that party nominees for the presidency are selected long before the primary, which occurs after the nominating conventions.

In 2008, the year Hawaii-born Barack Obama was elected president, he had been picked by Hawaii Democrats in a February . By the time Hawaii’s primary election was held in September, Obama had already been nominated by the national Democratic Party and was preparing for his first debate against Republican nominee John McCain.

With Obama at the top of the ticket in November, 66 percent of registered Hawaii voters cast a ballot. General election turnout has typically been higher in years with presidential elections — 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996 and 1992 — than in the off years, when Hawaii has elected its governors.

Statewide General Election Results

Source: Hawaii Office of Elections records

In Honolulu, the turnout rate was slightly higher than the neighbor islands, as 45 percent of registered voters participated, [pdf] shows.

In the seven previous primary elections, City and County of Honolulu voters turned out at a clip nearly identical to their neighbor island counterparts — with one notable exception. In the 2004 primary, the late Duke Bainum edged Mufi Hannemann in the race for Honolulu mayor, 45.5 percent to 42.3 percent. Because neither reached the 50-percent threshold — Frank Fasi pulled in 9.6 percent — the two leading candidates were forced into a mano-y-mano [pdf] runoff. Hannemann prevailed by less than 1,400 votes with almost 300,000 votes cast in the race.

Honolulu Primary Turnout Vs. Neighbor Islands

Source: Hawaii Office of Elections records

Fears about the potential statewide could have played a role, though it’s not clear. The number of voting sites dropped from 339 in 2008 to 242 Saturday due to budget shortfalls, leaving some voters confused about where to vote. And because each location still has only one electronic, handicapped-friendly voting machine and one paper-ballot-counting machine apiece, more voters were sharing less equipment.

But the Office of Elections allocated voting booths based on how many registered voters were assigned to each polling place. Officials said in the days before the election that it expected no delays in closing precincts promptly at 6 p.m. while complying with the rule that allows those already in line before closing time to vote. The first printout — available only after the final polling place is confirmed closed — was released at a few minutes after 7 p.m. Saturday.

Perhaps most important to a smooth operation, more than 129,000 voters — an unprecedented number in a Hawaii primary — made their voices heard by voting absentee, either by mail or via early walk-in voting between Sept. 3 and Thursday. The rate of absentee voters — those who vote through the mail or early walk-ins — has steadily climbed in the past 18 years in both primary and general elections.

Absentee Ballots as Percentage of Turnout

Source: Hawaii Office of Elections records

Office of Elections spokesman Rex Quidilla said last week that the trend of more and more people voting prior to election day was considered when the office was devising its election plans late in 2009. Depending on how the primary and general election turn out — the same 242 polling places will be open Nov. 2 — the state may go back to 339 locations in 2012, might keep it at 242, or might choose something in between, Quidilla said. Everything will be reviewed, just as it is after every election, he said.