Hawaii voters, this is your chance. You can climb out of the cellar, make a name for the state and all you have to do is mail back your ballot.

If you are a registered voter, last week you were mailed a general election ballot, allowing you to pick who you want to run the country, Congress, the state and city. Sign it, mail it by Oct. 27 and you will have done your duty.

Besides the candidates, a lot of political observers across the country are watching to see if Hawaii is going to continue its reputation as the most disinterested, apathetic and politically lethargic state among the 50.

A new report by WalletHub tagged Hawaii as the least politically engaged state in the nation. Second worse was Mississippi; the most politically engaged were Maine and Washington state.

The finance research web company gathered up 11 key indicators of political engagement, ranging “percentage of registered voters in the 2016 presidential election” to “total political contributions per adult population.”

Hawaii is last in percentage of registered voters in the 2016 presidential election, 49th in percentage of voters who voted in 2016 and 2018. Hawaii ranked 41 in political engagement among young voters, and 46th among those 65 and older.

So now that Hawaii is one of five states with 100% mail-in balloting, it should at least get out of last place.

Early reports show Hawaii voters liking the voting change.

“As of Oct. 14, a little over 124,000 voted ballots have been returned, which is 15% of registered voters,” reports Nedielyn Bueno, state elections spokeswoman.

Rex Quidilla, the city’s elections administrator, says he is “just shocked at the early voting numbers for Honolulu.

“On Tuesday got 40,000, but Monday was a holiday, but then we got another 40,000 on Wednesday. We have never seen early voting numbers like this,” said Quidilla.

Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center, had doubts that the new mail system would have much impact, but he has been impressed.

“I think the state’s mail-in program is working remarkably well. I don’t know what will happen in the general, but the primary turnout was extraordinary. We had a 17 percentage point increase from 2016, the last primary in a presidential election year,” Moore said in an interview.

In the past, “smooth sailing” and Hawaii elections have not been phrases found in the same sentence. Back in the 2016 election, voters faced long lines and broken voting machines, with some voters waiting more than an hour in line.

“They are in turmoil,” said Kapolei voter Rene Ortega, in a Facebook post back then.

“The line is very long, waiting for over an hour, the machine is full and they have been on the phone for over 15 minutes and still can’t figure out what to do,” according to a Hawaii News Now report at the time.

Now with no precincts to fumble the voting, all the election officials have to do is count their mail.

The state plans to start processing ballots on Oct. 24 so they will be able deliver a first report shortly after 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3, with a second report around 10 p.m.

So go vote.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.