Voters — more precisely, potential voters — are often operating on a different timetable than candidates might hope. Despite the campaign-season noise, or perhaps because of it, they may not become interested in the election until right before voting day. It may then be too late for them to be qualified to cast a ballot.

That’s because of voter registration laws. Hawaii’s law stipulates that new voters and those who have changed their name or address must register at least 30 days in advance of an election. That deadline passed Thursday, when everyone wanting to vote in the Aug. 11 primary needed to be signed up.

This is a system that needs to change, if Hawaii is ever to boost its embarrassingly low voter turnout numbers — the antithesis of a vibrant democracy.

Making registration possible on the same day elections are held is one reform that deserves serious consideration, if isle citizens truly want to turn things around. States that have done so include Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The status quo is unacceptable. According to preliminary figures from the state Office of Elections, 686,000 people are registered statewide to vote in the primary, roughly where it was for the primary for 2010 and higher than in the last presidential election cycle.

But turnout figures have been comparatively dismal in Hawaii, particularly for primaries. The 2008 primary had a paltry 36.9 percent — a rock-bottom level, even by isle standards. Of course, the excitement of Hawaii-born Barack Obama’s candidacy for the top spot drove general-election turnout to 66 percent. That’s still well below the levels achieved only 20 years ago.

The primary balloting that will happen in a few weeks, however, is a departure from the norm. There are several important local and statewide races in which there are a real contests — including the battles for the mayor’s office and for the rare openings for U.S. Senate and House.

It’s too late for any change in the law for this election, of course. A bill proposing election-day registration was put before the 2011-12 Legislature but in those two years was not even given a hearing.

Its somewhat more successful twin of the preceding two years actually passed the Senate but was stopped dead in the House. The one hearing, before the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee, drew out statements of support from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The current elections office has taken no position on the issue. In 2009, Kevin Cronin, then the office chief, observed that concerns about voter fraud, which is the issue most frequently raised by critics, are offset by provisions allowing any registered voter to challenge another’s eligibility to vote, forcing a review.

The more acute consideration is logistical. Cronin said that election-day voter registration will "require establishing separate teams to register new voters at each polling place," with all the added recruitment and training that come with it.

It’s a challenge, to be sure. But if lawmakers revisit the question in January, there will be time to prepare. Certainly, the prospect of raising Hawaii’s level of political engagement should be a reason why that effort is worthwhile.