Oahu residents can vote through 7 p.m.

Oahu residents still wishing to participate in this year’s first-ever vote-by-mail general election have until 7 p.m. today to do so.

But they should anticipate a line if they want to walk in and vote in person at one of the two voter service centers set up at Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale, City Clerk Glen Takahashi said.

“Expect a line because it is the very last day,” Takahashi told reporters Monday. Because the Honolulu Elections Division is practicing social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer people may be allowed in the voting area at one time than normal. “It is going to be, perhaps, a long day, and so expect a line. Be prepared for that.”

Takahashi is advising registered voters who still have their envelope ballots to instead place them at one of 12 designated drop-off sites across the island.

At this point, voters should not drop ballots into U.S. Postal Service mailboxes if they want their votes counted.

There are drop boxes at Kapolei Hale and Honolulu Hale as well as at Waianae District Park, Mililani Park and Ride, Neal S. Blaisdell Park, Kahuku Community Center/Kahuku District Park, Kaneohe District Park, Hawaii Kai Park and Ride, Bill Balfour Jr. Waipahu District Park, Kailua District Park, Kalihi Valley District Park and Kanewai Community Park.

For more information about the Oahu election, go to honolulu.gov/elections. On other islands, go to elections.hawaii.gov.

Oahu residents who are not registered to vote but would like to do so should visit one of the voter service centers between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. They should take along a Hawaii driver’s license, state ID card or other identification that shows they are Oahu residents.

The roughly 356,462 Oahu ballots recorded as of Monday evening is a record. The previous highest number of votes cast in a general election was 308,443 recorded in 2008, the year Hawaii-born Barack Obama was first elected president.

Only 12,677 of this year’s ballots have come via walk-in voters. The rest were either delivered through U.S. mail or at one of the drop boxes.

This is the first general election in Hawaii to use a vote-by-mail procedure where all verified registered voters are sent ballots. Election official said it’s one of the reasons they think there is a high turnout this year.