Maui Voters Wait Hours To Cast Ballots
It’s the first general election since thousands were displaced in last year’s wildfires.
Voters stood in long lines Tuesday to cast their ballots in Wailuku at one of only two voter service centers open on Maui.
Comments from those waiting hours to vote at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center ranged from 鈥渢his is insane鈥 to 鈥渋t鈥檚 a letdown of the government,” but the situation remained orderly and calm.
The line stretched out of the community center and down the parking lot.
A 72-year-old Pukalani resident, Ron Harris, said he wished he would have just mailed his ballot.
He arrived with Vangie Rivera shortly after 1 p.m. and finally voted around 3:45 p.m., Harris said, noting the wait was worse than the lines they encountered the past two elections on Maui. The lines kept polls open past 7 p.m. in 2022 and 2020.
This is the first general election since the August 2023 fires displaced more than 12,000 residents in Lahaina and Upcountry.
A voicemail message on the Maui Elections Division said “we anticipate long lines” on Election Day and encouraged people to bring water, a hat and sunscreen.
Voters also waited in long lines to cast their ballots at the voter service centers on Oahu, both in Kapolei and Honolulu.
Maui County received 47,336 ballots by Monday and has 115,154 registered voters, according to the county elections office.
Civil Beat鈥檚 coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.
