If U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is not able to win enough votes to defeat U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, she may take her case to court.

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Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who鈥榮 trailing in the too-close-to-call Hawaii Democratic Senate primary against incumbent Brian Schatz, warned Monday of voting 鈥渋rregularities鈥 in precincts crippled by a massive tropical storm last week and said she鈥檚 speaking with campaign lawyers about a potential recourse.

鈥淭here are irregularities that have occurred in terms of just access, and I鈥檓 hoping that the Office of Elections will look at it,鈥 Hanabusa told POLITICO in a phone interview on Monday.

Although much of the focus in the wake of this past Saturday鈥檚 primary has been on two precincts in the Big Island鈥檚 Puna District 鈥 home to some 8,200 registered voters 鈥 where polls were closed Saturday because of the storm and residents will soon cast their ballots by mail, Hanabusa鈥檚 comments indicate for the first time that she鈥檚 examining the impact in surrounding communities as well, where polls were open but some voters were unable to leave their homes.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a lot of people coming up to us saying, 鈥榃e couldn鈥檛 get out to vote but they didn鈥檛 close us down,鈥欌 she said. 鈥淲e have a lot of people who are talking about the election because they felt in fact they were disenfranchised.鈥

Hanabusa emphasized that her conversations with campaign lawyers are nothing new; she has regularly consulted with them throughout the campaign. But the latest conversations about voter disenfranchisement come at a sensitive time in the race.

Hanabusa, it should be noted, is an attorney.

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa greets the crowd at her campaign headquarters on primary night.

Alana Hong Eagle

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