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BRUCE ASATO / AUG. 13 Aulii Tenn, Statewide Counting Center manager, carries a tray of mail-in absentee ballots to the counting center in the Senate chamber of the state Capitol on primary election night.
HILO >> A county official wants people to mail absentee ballots earlier after more than 1,600 arrived late statewide.
West Hawaii Today reports 771 tardy absentee ballots recently arrived in the Hawaii County Elections Office mailbox.
Hawaii County Elections Administrator Pat Nakamoto said the unusually high amount was very concerning.
Clerk Stewart Maeda said Hawaii County will remind absentee voters to mail ballots early for the Nov. 8 general election.
State Elections Office spokeswoman Nedielyn Bueno said the number of late ballots in the rest of the state were typical, totaling 500 in Honolulu, 347 on Maui and 60 on Kauai.
Some races were decided by slim margins.
The Clerks Office must receive absentee ballots by 6 p.m. on election day under state law.
Nakamoto said late ballots are not opened.
Are we talking about the tardiness of the voter or the US Postal service? LOL
Voters as usual.
Don’t even try to blame USPS when there is the 1% of voters who just haven’t got a clue how to mail a ballot in on time.
These are usually the weak of mind pro railers.
Steady!!! Some people just have no sense of urgency. I received my ballot, did some serious thinking, made my selections, and mailed my ballot in the ext day.
Absentee ballots clearly state they must be received by the election date.
I wish they could open them and see if their votes would have made a difference !!!
771 ballots, maybe in some minor races.
they wouldn’t have made a difference. they were late
All late ballots should be immediately shredded. Why waste the time and money to count them? Voters have almost an entire month to vote and mail them in. If not, late is late!
Because it gives the office of elections an idea of whether they need to increase voter education about getting the ballots mailed back in time?
No, I don’t think we should have to teach voters how to READ.
I’m pretty sure that’s what somebody wants…
When was it postmarked?
Irrelevant. The instructions say that ballots must be RECEIVED by 6pm on election day…not postmarked.
okay
Of course it’s relevant. How do we know someone didn’t have the ballots and screwed up by misplacing it? There are numerous ways that the delivery of the ballots could be delayed in reaching its destination. How would you like it if the IRS decided to use the receipt date and not the postmark date?
When was it post marked?
This is a dang good question and I’m sorry that others keep ridiculing people who bring it up. A lot of us would like to know — generally — how prompt USPS is when delivering mail. It is a well-known fact that USPS service has been doing everything in its power to cut costs and services as it currently has $125 billion in unfunded liabilities — as well as more than $15 billion in loans.
USPS has defaulted at least four times on debt service payments. If USPS was a private company (like UPS or Federal Express) it would have gone bankrupt years ago.
droid – More of your not telling the full story, spreading Urban Legends. Let me educate you.
– From the USPS Inspector General Website, ” The Postal Service has set-aside cash totals of more than $335 billion for its pensions and retiree healthcare, exceeding 83 percent of estimated future payouts. Its pension plans are nearly completely funded and its retiree healthcare liability is 50 percent funded – much better than the rest of the federal government.”
– Congress directed USPS, “The Postal Service’s $15 billion debt is a direct result of the mandate that it must pay about $5.6 billion a year for 10 years to prefund the retiree healthcare plan. This requirement has deprived the Postal Service of the opportunity to invest in capital projects and research and development.” Not a requirement of other federal agencies.
Ref: https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/be-careful-what-you-assume
You stated, “USPS has defaulted at least four times on debt service payments” and willfully failed to provide a credible reference. Rookie move again.
Congress is directly responsible for the ongoing financial issues with USPS. The same congress wasting billions of dollars, the same congress which after a full FY often fails to prepare a full US budget for the new FY. Can you see why USPS is having problems?
Now here is a link showing yes, they defaulted on a $5.6 billion Retiree Health Benefits prefunding payment due Sept. 30, 2013. Not a major issue as this is for “prefunding” and not actual usage. Again our dysfunctional congress is directly responsible for the ongoing debacle they created. Postal officials point out that other federal agencies aren’t required to prefund for retirees this way.
Once again it is our utterly dysfunctional congress doing what they do best. Nothing.
No need to thank me. It’s what I do. Have a great weekend.
I’m sure they were “Post dated”. No neglect on the postal service. But, c’mon people you have at least a month to get the absentee ballot mailed out! Just do it! There’s no excuse for ignorance. Yes i agree don’t waste time effort and more tax payer money to do the count,just dump it in the trash.
My wife and I were traveling and did not mail our ballots in on time. We DID go to our polling place on Saturday morning, and were able to make our votes count! It took all of fifteen minutes of our time.
Remember the news how Hawaii students are the dumbest in the nation? Happened several times. Well, they’re now of voting age.
Wow! The dumbest in the nation??? You need to cite that report if you went anyone to take you seriously.
Ask and yee shall receive.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/30553486/hawaii-called-least-intelligent-state-in-analysis
Which goes with my most frequent comment, “Just another day in the little 8th world of Hawaii Nei.
The less intelligent students in other States didn’t bother taking the tests, thus allowing higher average scores for other States.
“2015 ACT scores (Hawaii’s average composite score was 18.5, the lowest in the nation; the national average was 21. However, 93 percent of Hawaii seniors took the test in 2015; that compares to 59 percent nationally.)”
Good reason to hand deliver your ballot to either the early voting sites or to your polling place on the day of the election. I personally place my ballot into the paper shedder looking device and ensure that the count goes up to be sure that my vote is counted. Don’t like the electronic ballots. Paper can be recounted. A catastrophic electronic data meltdown cannot.
What was the postmark date? I have been receiving mail postmarked 10-12 days after I receive it. Before youcouldmail shilling the 1st and it would get there the next day. The post office neverreturnscalls aboutpackagedelay. Also, in the past 2months I have recejvedmailrippedor dirty with no explanation.
I mailed mine this morning!
By chance, I learned earlier this year that the USPS started processing first class mail the next day instead of the same day it is received. Only Priority and Express mail get sorted on the same day received. That’s why first class mail gets delivered in two days, not in one day like before. To be received by the Elections Office on Saturday, ballots needed to be mailed on Thursday at the latest (and even that is not a guarantee). The Elections Office should have publicized this before the election. For the General Election, ballots would have to be mailed on Saturday at the latest (and still no guarantee to be delivered on Tuesday).