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2024 Hawaii & National Election Coverage

Veteran election volunteers insist they’ve never seen any impropriety in the way ballots are handled at the state Capitol, several volunteers told the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser on Tuesday, the first full day that ballots were counted and processed ahead of the Nov. 8 general election.

Volunteers fulfill several duties as Oahu ballots come into the Capitol, from unsealing ballot envelopes to observing every step of the process.

Rodney Boucher, 64, a retired Navy master chief, said he is particularly impressed that each step has to be verified twice, with signatures along the way. He called it a “two-person verification where somebody is always signing off on everything. … I’m very pleased and proud of the system that works.”

Hawaii’s election process and the people who keep it running have come under intensifying attacks that have so far been unfounded, mirroring claims from people on the mainland who continue to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Donald Trump lost and Joe Biden won.

Last week 726,000 ballots were mailed out to Hawaii voters across the state. Scott Nago, the state’s chief election officer, expected that 40,000 Oahu ballots would be counted and processed at the Capitol by the end of Tuesday.

Counties process their votes individually and report the results to the Capitol before any results are released after polls close on Election Day.

Also on Tuesday, Oahu voters were able to drop off their mail-in ballots or vote in person at Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale. Both voter service centers will be open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday until Nov. 7. On Nov. 8 the centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or until the last voters in line by 7 p.m. cast their ballots.

Two “pop-up” voter serv­ice centers — in Kaneohe and Wahiawa district parks — will be open from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1-5. Additionally, 15 remote drop-off ballot boxes for mail-in ballots went up Oct. 18 across Oahu. The last ballots will be collected at 7 p.m. Nov. 8.

A statewide list of voter service centers and ballot drop box locations can be found at elections.hawaii.gov.

State law allows voters to register and vote up to the 7 p.m. scheduled close of voting on Nov. 8. But election officials encourage people who want to vote in person on Election Day to register in advance or update any changes in address ahead of time by visiting elections.hawaii.gov with a Hawaii driver’s license or state identification. Voters must be a U.S. citizen, Hawaii resident and at least 18 years old. For more election and voter information, visit elections.hawaii.gov or call 808-453-VOTE (8683).

Some of the 250 volunteers working at the Capitol have returned for every election going back decades. For others, 2022 marks their first time, starting with the Aug. 13 primary.

Kelly McCanlies got called to work for the first time for the general election, as an election observer. McCanlies, 58, retired as a Hawaiian Electric Co. privacy officer who helped secure HECO’s data storage.

“I’ve believed our elections are secure,” she said. “This way I’ll know our elections are secure.”

Asked whether she’s seen anything suspicious, McCanlies said, “Everything’s been perfect. … I know how polarized our country is. If I wasn’t willing to volunteer, then I shouldn’t complain.”

Jen Ackrill, 50, beverage director at Waikiki’s Kai­mana Beach Hotel, is volunteering to open ballot envelopes at the Capitol. Ackrill said even if somebody wanted to illegally manipulate votes, she has seen no evidence and does not see how it could be accomplished. “I just don’t know how a person could do it,” she said.

Laura Nakasone, 74, a retired teacher who worked at the Schofield Barracks school previously known as Hale Kula Elementary, has been serving as a Hawaii election volunteer since the 1980s, calling the work her “civic duty” — a sentiment expressed by several other volunteers, including Gloria Uyehara, 73, of Aiea. “As you get older you become more civic-minded,” Uyehara said.

Uyehara said she has heard complaints of impropriety in Hawaii and on the mainland and has asked lots of questions about Hawaii’s election process “because I’m curious,” she said. “I’m much more confident now. … People are just misinformed.” Observers are everywhere, Uyehara said, “and there is a double-check, a validation,” throughout the process.

Yogi Fong, 67, of Aiea was raised to volunteer and give back to her community. Noting that her father, Ralph Ferraz, volunteered to help with elections in San Francisco, “volunteering was instilled in me by my mom,” Lillian Ferraz, Fong said.

Clifton Chun, 79, of Salt Lake could not even estimate how long he’s been volunteering as an election observer — or for how many elections. “It’s been a number,” he said. Asked whether he’s ever seen anything suspicious over all those years, Chun said, “Absolutely not. We have probably one of the best elections (systems) in the nation, if not the best.”