PAHOA, Hawaii » U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz held off U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in a turbulent Democratic primary for Senate that concluded Friday after the storm-battered voters of Puna finally had their say.

Schatz claimed a 48.5 percent to 47.8 percent victory over Hanabusa. The senator expanded his narrow lead over the congresswoman after the two Puna precincts that cast ballots in an extraordinary makeup vote on Friday at Keonepoko Elementary School and previously undiscovered ballots on Maui were counted.

A cloud may trail the results, however, after Hanabusa and Hawaii County Democratic leaders complained that some Puna voters were disenfranchised by the state’s decision to hold the vote Friday — six days after Saturday’s primary — instead of giving the region more time to recover from Tropical Storm Iselle.

"I want to thank everybody who came here tonight. I want to thank everybody on the Big Island. I want to thank everybody in Hilo. And I especially want to thank the people of Puna and the people of east Hawaii for teaching me a lot about the Big Island’s heart," an emotional Schatz said at the Hawaii Government Employees Association headquarters in Hilo, where his supporters had gathered to await election returns.

Hanabusa, a political party, or at least 30 voters from any election district can contest the primary before the state Supreme Court within six days. A complaint must show evidence that defects in the election process or voting problems changed the outcome.

Hanabusa, who heard personal stories from frustrated voters on Friday, described the election process as "unfortunate." The congresswoman doubted state election officials were sufficiently aware of the extent of the storm damage in Puna.

Hanabusa did not immediately say whether she or others would contest the primary.

"This is not fair to the voters, definitely not fair to the voters," said Hanabusa, who had unsuccessfully sought a temporary restraining order in state Circuit Court to postpone the Puna vote. "And that’s who we have to focus on, it’s the voters. How can this possibly be fair to them?"

Schatz said he, too, heard from Puna voters who wanted to cast ballots but were denied. "It was an extraordinary circumstance and it was really tough," he said. "We are not the umpires. We’re the players on the field, and we decided we were going to play by whatever rules were established and fight hard. And that’s what we did."

David Tarnas, the chairman of Hawaii County Democrats, who served as a poll watcher at Keonepoko Elementary on Friday, said the vote should have been delayed.

"If we wanted to absolutely encourage people to vote, and give them as many opportunities to vote, we should have given them more time," he said.

Along with the confusion in Puna, the state Office of Elections announced late Friday that about 800 absentee ballots on Maui had not previously been counted, a discovery the Schatz campaign called "appalling and outrageous."

John Hart, a Hawaii Pacific University communication professor, said the primary would not provide the mandate Schatz had hoped for to politically secure the Senate seat. The senator, appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in December 2012 to replace the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, will face Cam Cavasso, a former state lawmaker who is the Republican nominee for Senate, in the November general election.

The election is to fill out the remaining two years of Inouye’s term, which runs through 2016, so the winner will have to run again for a full six-year term in 2016.

"He’s not only running for 2014, he was running for 2016. He wanted to scare away potential rivals for 2016 because he’s got to run again right away," Hart said.

Hart said that if Hanabusa is "going out, she’s going out in grand style, the way she would want it" and on her own terms.

At Keonepoko Elementary, the unusual one-day election was at times emotional and chaotic.

Voters waited as long as an hour Friday morning to cast ballots after some voting machines temporarily went down. Election officials brought in an additional eight voting machines from Hilo — there were 24 in all — which eventually helped reduce the wait.

Jim Johnson, a retired teacher who lives in Orchidland, almost did not get the chance to vote.

Johnson, who said he has a 5-mile round trip to his mailbox, said he had not yet received the notice about the makeup vote from the Office of Elections. But he acknowledged that he did not check his mail on Thursday. He found out that the vote was being held Friday on the Internet Thursday night.

"How was I supposed to know the election was going to be here?" said Johnson, who went to vote at his precinct last Saturday at Paradise Community Center but found it closed because of the storm.

Asked what he thought of the delayed election, Johnson said: "It’s a bit of a disaster."

Others who were unable to cast ballots on Saturday because of storm debris appreciated the second chance. "That’s your fundamental right. You have to do it, no matter what," said Gloria Emery, a paralegal who lives in Hawaiian Shores and was "too buried in trees" to vote Saturday.

"I don’t think it would have been good to drag it out," she said. "People are excited to come and get it over with."

Priscilla Kealohapauole-McGuire and her husband were among the first in line when the polling place opened at 7 a.m. The retiree who lives in Hawaiian Shores found it a little odd voting when she already knew which candidates were ahead.

"It’s just that idea of having to vote after everybody else has voted," she said.

Schatz and Hanabusa have been in Puna for the past several days, helping with the storm recovery and raising their visibility in preparation for the vote.

Hanabusa was more visible in the news media, primarily because of her legal challenge, but the Democrats sought to publicly concentrate on Iselle instead of their campaigns. Both candidates, though, were out sign-waving Friday.

While a few voters said their votes were influenced by their own perceptions about how Schatz and Hanabusa responded to the storm — and some of the private appraisals were unflattering — most understood that the candidates were in an awkward position.

"It was a little weird hearing that ‘OK, this one doesn’t even need any more votes. They’ve already won,’" said Sarah Hoohuli, an educational assistant who lives in Hawaiian Beaches. "But I figured I’d still vote because I wanted to at least get my opinion in.

"I feel if you don’t vote, you can’t grumble."

Election officials had the uncomfortable task of turning away several angry and disappointed voters from other precincts in Puna who showed up at Keonepoko Elementary but learned they would not be able to cast ballots.

Martha Holman, who said she is disabled and was trapped in Kapoho on Saturday, thought she heard on the radio that anyone who missed the primary, especially in lower Puna, would get to vote Friday regardless of their precinct.

"It’s just wrong," she said after being turned away. "I really wanted to vote."

Peter Frank, a retired construction worker who lives in Nanawale, arrived at the polling place Friday afternoon clutching his yellow voter information card that showed his precinct was at Pahoa High and Intermediate School, which had opened on Saturday despite the storm.

The problem, Frank explained, was that he could not get out of Nanawale on Saturday because of Iselle’s wrath. "Don’t we have a right to vote?" he demanded. "It ain’t our fault that hurricane came."

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