U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz and U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa on Sunday threaded a delicate balance between concern and campaigning as their Democratic primary for Senate came down to two storm-ravaged precincts in Puna on Hawaii island.

Separated by just 1,635 votes, both Democrats prepared to go to the island to view the damage from Tropical Storm Iselle and talk with residents, including some who had been isolated by the storm and had no idea their votes could now determine the outcome of the election.

Schatz leads Hanabusa, and the senator captured the two other precincts in state House District 4 in Puna, but a fraction of about 8,000 voters in the district who had not cast ballots by walk-in or mail before Election Day will now be eligible to vote.

Scott Nago, the state’s chief election officer, said Sunday that the state will announce how to proceed with the vote after consulting with the Hawaii County clerk. Under state election law, the chief election officer can require voters in damaged precincts to vote by absentee ballot and may postpone the vote for no more than 21 days.

The primary to replace the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye had already been emotional and divisive, but the late twist caused by the storm has made it surreal.

The House district in Puna, which is represented by state Rep. Faye Hanohano (D, Hawaiian Acres-Pahoa-Kalapana), is among the most eclectic in the state. Infrastructure has not caught up with rapid population growth over the past decade, and a blend of urban transplants, rural preservationists, aging hippies and end-of-the road outlaws has often led to fractious politics.

Some residents playfully refer to each other as "Punatics."

"It’s scary," Joanne Bousquet-Dodson, who intends to vote for Schatz, said as she revealed the wreckage of her two-bedroom, two-bath home in Nanawale Estates from several fallen albizia trees. "We’re deciding for everybody."

Julie Ann Deguair, a preschool teacher at Keonepoko Elementary School, one of the precincts that did not open on Saturday because of the storm, showed a reporter her three-bedroom, two-bath rental home in Hawaiian Beaches that was all but destroyed by 100-foot trees that crashed into her home during Iselle.

Asked what it means that her vote could help settle the primary, Deguair began to weep.

"I’m studying psychology, and I have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) effects" from Iselle, she said.

Then Deguair perked up.

"I’m from Waianae, Maili actually, and so is Hanabusa," she said. "So I hope it’s Hanabusa."

Schatz and Hanabusa said their first concern is the residents in Puna who have been without power and water and whose homes have suffered storm damage. But both candidates were also plotting get-out-the-vote strategies for an election that has gone into overtime.

"This is going to be going back to my roots in terms of person-to-person contact," Schatz said outside the Democratic Party of Hawaii’s traditional Unity Breakfast on Sunday morning at Dole Cannery. "And that’s what we’re going to focus on. We’re going to do a lot of listening and try and understand how I can be most useful to them as their United States senator, certainly during the recovery period but also more generally.

"Puna is really different than a lot of places across the state, and this gives them an opportunity for their voice to be heard."

Hanabusa said she would tell voters: "’We’re very sorry to impose upon you. This is not the right time to do this.’ We understand that. But the law is that it’s 21 days, and we believe it’s going to be a mail ballot, an absentee ballot. We don’t know how long they’re going to give them to return the ballot.

"It’s a very important race, and we would like to have their consideration. But, you know, it’s going to be a very critical balancing act."

House District 4 has four precincts. Schatz took Pahoa Community Center (HD4-03) 364-319 and Pahoa High and Intermediate School (HD4-04) 375-284. But the turnout and voting patterns in the two remaining precincts — Paradise Community Center (HD4-01) and Keonepoko Elementary School (HD4-02) — could fluctuate now that voters are aware of the potential importance of their ballots.

Hanabusa, however, will have to dominate to erase Schatz’s 1,635-vote margin.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he is working with the state attorney general, the chief election officer and state and county emergency management officials to complete the primary.

"People deserve to have the elections handled in an expeditious manner that they can have confidence in," the governor told Democrats at the unity breakfast. "And I assure you that’s going to be not only undertaken, but completed, in quick time."

Some Democrats privately joked Sunday that the primary now resembles the plot of "Swing Vote," the 2008 movie starring Kevin Costner, who portrayed a boozy egg inspector from New Mexico who held the deciding vote in a presidential election.

But many worried about the potential political weight on Puna voters still coping with the aftermath of Iselle.

"They are going through a real — a huge — challenge over there," said Ken Inouye, Inouye’s son and an independent political consultant who is supporting Hanabusa. "At the same time, if there’s ever been an example of how every vote really does count, here’s your example.

"So I do hope that they are able to take part in this."

State Sen. Russell Ruderman (D, Puna), who is backing Schatz, said a colleague quipped Saturday that "we’re the area without electricity, yet suddenly we have a lot of power."

He added, "It’s nice to have people focused on us for a couple of weeks. I don’t think it’s ever happened before, so everyone’s seeing it as a curious twist of fate."

Ruderman said he will ask the chief election officer to also give voters who could not make it to the precincts in Pahoa that were open Saturday because of blocked roads the option of voting by absentee ballot by mail.

"I think it’s only fair that they not be punished for taking the worst of the storm," he said.

Statewide voter turnout for the primary so far is 41.4 percent, which is down slightly from the 2012 and 2010 primaries.

A Star-Advertiser analysis of the Schatz-and-Hanabusa primary shows a closely divided electorate. The congresswoman won in 27 of 51 state House districts; the senator claimed 24 House districts.

Schatz excelled in districts such as North Kona, Kihei, Kalama Valley, Waikiki, Moiliili and Kailua. Hanabusa did well in districts such as Keaukaha, Kahului, Sand Island, Pearl City, Waipahu, Ko Olina and her hometown of Waianae.

The race was closest in districts such as Hamakua, Haiku, Nuuanu, Ewa Beach and Kaneohe.

The winner of the primary will go up against Cam Cavasso, a former state lawmaker who is the Republican nominee, in the November general election.

Star-Advertiser Data News Editor Dana Williams contributed to this report.

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