150,000 Votes Already Cast
With just 24 hours left before election day, more than 152,000 votes had already been cast via mail-in or early walk-in voting, election officials said Monday.
Early walk-in voting, which started Oct. 19, ended Saturday. The deadline for election officials to receive mail-in ballots isn’t until 6 p.m. Tuesday. But the number of absentee voters won’t reach the 175,526 absentee ballots that were cast in the 2008 election that saw Hawaii-born Barack Obama elected president.
Historically, Hawaii has seen better general election turnouts in presidential years than in gubernatorial years, but the trend of increasing absentee turnout has helped this election eclipse the 2004 general election (133,782) as well as the 2010 primary (129,080). When all the votes are counted, the absentee turnout should be near 160,000 or higher — which could add up to nearly half the votes cast in the election.
The number of mail-in ballots requested increased from 111,484 in the primary election to 135,851 for the general, according to county election officials. More than 83 percent have been returned.
In Honolulu alone, more than 110,000 voters had already made their choice as of Monday. Honolulu City Elections Administrator Glen Takahashi told Civil Beat Monday that more than 88,000 ballots had been received in the mail delivered through Monday. More than 22,000 walk-in votes were cast.
Hawaii County Elections Program Administrator Pat Nakamoto said Monday that more than 8,000 mail-in ballots had been received as of the end of the day Friday. More than 10,000 Big Island voters participated in walk-in voting.
A Maui County official in the elections division of the county clerk said Monday that more than 9,000 ballots had been received in the mail as of Saturday. More than 3,000 Maui voters participated in walk-in voting.
Kauai County Clerk Peter Nakamura said more than 7,000 ballots had been received as of Saturday. Nearly 3,000 Kauai voters participated in early walk-in voting.
| County | Mail-in | Walk-in | Total | Mailed Out | Pct Returned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honolulu | 88,397 | 22,272 | 110,669 | 104,828 | 84.3% |
| Hawaii | 8,067 | 10,251 | 18,318 | 10,912 | 73.9% |
| Maui | 9,253 | 3,691 | 12,944 | 11,438 | 80.9% |
| Kauai | 7,145 | 2,928 | 10,073 | 8,673 | 82.4% |
| Total | 112,862 | 39,142 | 152,004 | 135,851 | 83.1% |
Source: Hawaii Office of Elections and county elections officials
All told, more than 39,000 voters cast a ballot during early walk-in voting. All county walk-in numbers are final. More than 112,000 mail-in ballots had been processed, leaving 23,000 (17 percent) more outstanding.
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