A "significant" number of registered voters in upper Manoa who requested absentee ballots were mailed two of them erroneously, city elections officer Glen Takahashi said Wednesday.

The problem is to be addressed this morning at a news conference by City Clerk Bernice Mau.

Elections officials were contacted by voters in the district who received two ballots, Takahashi said.

"We’ve been getting calls," he said.

How many double ballots were mailed and what voters should do if they get two ballots will be discussed at today’s news conference, Takahashi said.

All the voters getting two ballots are in the same precinct in upper Manoa, Takahashi said. Manoa is part of the 23rd House District.

Absentee mail ballots began being sent out this week. Voters in Hawaii have until Oct. 30 to request an absentee mail-in ballot.

Requests can be made by writing a letter to a respective county’s clerk, or by submitting an official application for an absentee ballot. Voters may also vote absentee at "walk-in" sites from Tuesday to Nov. 3. The general election is Nov. 6.

Absentee voting is increasingly popular in Hawaii. Just under half of the approximately 290,000 votes cast in the August primary were absentee.

In an unrelated Hawaii elections development, the state Office of Elections acknowledged it made an error on the November general election ballot.

Under state law the names of the presidential candidates are supposed to be listed alphabetically.

The Office of Elections, however, inadvertently used the same order as the political parties were listed on the ballot in the August primary. That order, under law, is determined by a drawing.

"That’s not the order it should be in," Rex Quidilla, a spokesman for the Office of Elections, said of the ballot error. "But there is little we can do at this point because the ballots are printed."

Lori Tomczyk, the ballot operations section head, apologized for the ballot error. She told state Rep. Gilbert Keith-Agaran (D, Kahului-Paia) in an email that the state consulted with legal counsel and believes the state law is advisory as opposed to mandatory.

"In other words, the organization of the candidates by political party as opposed to alphabetically does not substantively impact the ability of voters to exercise their right to vote for president and vice president and as such no injury has occurred," she wrote.

A constituent had alerted Keith-Agaran to the ballot error.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Derrick DePledge contributed to this story.