Hawaii Voter Turnout Already At 41%
Officials ask that voters mail ballots by Tuesday.
With a little more than a week left until Election Day, 41% of registered voters have already cast their ballots, according to state Office of Elections.
As of Thursday, 344,000 ballots were received. Voter registration this year is up to over 830,000.
This is the first year elections in Hawaii are being conducted almost entirely by mail.
During the August primary election, 16% more voters cast ballots than in 2016, when the U.S. last voted for a president and Oahu had a mayoral race. Turnout during presidential election years, like 2020, tends to be higher than others.
But during the August primary, the rate of participation by voters reached levels not seen since the late 1990s. Turnout in August was 51.2%, the highest since 1998.
More ballots are expected to come in as Nov. 3 draws near. There tends to be spikes in the number of ballots coming in the days leading up to the election, county elections officials have said.
If the general election turnout follows the same trend as the primary that saw a 16% increase over 2016, Hawaii could see total turnout around 70% once all ballots are counted.
Officials ask that voters mail their ballots by Tuesday. Any later, and they should take those ballots to a drop box or voter service center.
Hawaii has a deadline of 7 p.m. on Election Day for ballots to be received by the elections office.
