Plans are underway to prevent delays at Hawaii voting sites

State and county election officials are working to prevent a repeat of the November 2020 general election, which saw every in-person voting site overwhelmed despite Hawaii’s otherwise successful first attempt at mail-in ballots.

Hawaii’s record voter turnout in 2020 was the result of a confluence of forces: mail-in ballots sent to all registered voters; a divisive presidential election; and candidate Donald Trump urging supporters to vote in person on Election Day to prevent voter fraud, which contributed to election results in Hawaii being delayed by four hours.

Republican gubernatorial candidate and former mixed martial arts fighter BJ Penn is repeating Trump’s message ahead of the Aug. 13 primary election. A message on his campaign website encourages supporters to vote in person at polling sites “to make sure your vote counts.”

Honolulu Star-Advertiser calls to the phone number listed for Penn’s campaign repeatedly went unanswered.

Conventional wisdom holds that voter turnout drops in a midterm election year, compared with when a presidential race is in play. But a variety of factors in Hawaii could see a resurgence in voter participation this election cycle, said Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center.

Hawaii voters — especially those who voted for the first time in 2020 — now know how easy it is to vote by mail, Moore said.

And a series of competitive campaigns are underway that could spur voter interest, including races for governor, lieutenant governor, all 76 House and Senate seats, three of Hawaii’s four congressional seats, Maui and Kauai mayors, all neighbor island County Council seats and four of nine Honolulu City Council seats, in addition to trustee seats at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

“Once people become voters they tend to stay voters,” Moore said.

He called the 2020 mail-in ballot program “a smashing success. No one could have predicted that level of turnout, and I believe a lot of people also decided to vote last minute.”

The 2020 election included the option to vote by mail or to vote early in person or on Election Day, or to drop off mail-in ballots at secure collection boxes across the islands.

The effort resulted in a record turnout in a state that had reliably trailed the rest of the country in terms of voter participation.

In all, Hawaii voters set a statewide record in November 2020 for number of votes in any election: 579,165, which represented 69.6% of registered voters, according to data from the state Office of Elections.

Broken down, people who voted in person in the days before and including Election Day represented nearly 5% of all votes cast, or 28,742 ballots.

Instead, Hawaii voters displayed a clear preference for submitting their ballots by mail or at drop-off locations. Across the state, 550,423 general election votes were cast through mail-in ballots, representing 66.1% of registered voters.

This year Honolulu is adding two more in-person “voter service centers” — at Kaneohe District Park and George Fred Wright Wahiawa District Park — in addition to the two 2020 in-person polling sites at Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale.

A list of “voter service centers” and “places of deposit” across the entire state is available at the Office of Elections website or by linking to bit.ly/3xAo0Rw.

“If you look at it historically, there’s always been a higher turnout for the presidential elections,” said Office of Elections spokesperson Nedielyn Bueno. “But the fact that it’s a governor’s race and all House and Senate seats are up, you will see an increase of voters turning out.”

Registered voters are scheduled to receive their mail-in ballots by July 26 for the primary election and by Oct. 21 for the general election.

Also new for the 2022 elections is a ballot-tracking service that might help allay some voter concerns about casting mail-in ballots. Voters can sign up to receive notifications by text, email or phone of when they should be receiving their ballot, as well as when their marked ballot is received and validated by their county Elections Division, according to the Office of Elections.

Under the free service announced in April, voters also will be notified if there is a discrepancy with their return ballot envelope.

To sign up, voters can go online to hawaii.ballottrax.net. Those who opt not to sign up for the notifications will still be able to track their ballot by logging onto hawaii.ballottrax.net.

The primary election will be held Aug. 13, followed by the general election Nov. 8.

Moore supports the message put out by the state Office of Elections: “Mail in your ballot, and don’t wait until the last minute,” he said.