Hawaii voters will have their last chance today to decide who they want to represent them in Congress along with offices including the next governor, legislative and council seats, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and mayors of Maui and Kauai.
Voters can still vote in person until the scheduled close of voter service centers at 7 p.m. today — and even register to vote or update any outdated addresses before casting their ballots.
Election officials, however, encourage people to register or update their information online at elections.hawaii.gov to avoid delays that previously have held up the release of all election results.
Mail-in ballots also can be deposited at remote and in-person locations until 7 p.m.
In October, the first of 726,000 ballots were mailed out to Hawaii voters across the state.
Voters overwhelmingly have voted by mail-in since 2020 and tonight’s first election returns after polls close are expected to account for all of the ballots — both mail-in and early in-person voting — that were processed by Monday, including in-person votes at so-called pop-up voter service centers that opened prior to Election Day in Hana, Kaneohe and Wahiawa, according to Nedielyn Bueno, spokesperson for the state Office of Elections.
A second report of election results is expected sometime after 10 p.m. and will include in-person voting today and any additional ballots processed this afternoon, Bueno said.
The 2020 election that included then-President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden — along with Hawaii’s first widespread attempt at mail-in ballots — saw a modern-day record for voter turnout.
Trump, citing unfounded voter fraud, encouraged his supporters to vote in person. Every Hawaii in-person voting site was overwhelmed and forced to stay open beyond 7 p.m. because state law requires every voter in line by 7 p.m. to be allowed to vote.
But this year’s primary elections in August saw a return to voter apathy in races that included bitterness and accusations among Democrats running for governor, lieutenant governor and Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, which represents the neighbor islands and rural Oahu.
On Monday, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program that election results in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada — which could determine the balance of power in Congress — could takes days to determine.
“Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada are unlikely to be unresolved tomorrow night,” Schatz said. “Pennsylvania takes a while to count ballots. Nevada takes at least three or four days and Arizona actually takes forever, up to a week. And so unless it’s super obvious, like it’s a red wave, then we might know by tomorrow night, or if it’s a blue wave we might know by tomorrow night.
“But if it’s anything in between, we’re going to be sorting this out for the next three to five days, maybe even up to 10 days. So it’s incumbent on all public officials, on all civically engaged citizens and certainly the media to explain what’s happening because I think the tendency for some is going to be to say, ‘Hey, we’re ahead right now. Stop counting,’ right? And that’s not really how this works. If there are ballots that are valid and are cast but just simply haven’t been counted and take a little while to count you can’t invalidate them just because the state law in that particular state prohibits you from starting the counting until the election day is over.”
Hawaii’s general election this year contrasts with contentious races on the mainland for congressional, gubernatorial and secretary of state positions — including candidates who believe Trump won in 2020.
Secretaries of state oversee several statewide elections and control of the House and Senate are up for grabs tonight, along with races featuring election deniers.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm on the mainland and a lot of attention in the media,” said Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center. “The question is how much of that makes it across the ocean. Mainland people are angry and afraid and those emotions drive people to turn out to vote. That sense of anger is going to come more from the right than from the Democrats.”
There are still plenty of local competitive races to be decided tonight close to home.
They include: all nine Maui County Council seats and the race for Maui mayor; seven Kauai County Council seats; four of Honolulu’s nine County Council seats, along with four proposed City Charter amendments; one Hawaii County Council seat and three proposed charter amendments; and four OHA trustee seats.
Overall, though, tonight’s statewide general election should be over relatively quickly following the release of the first results sometime after 7 p.m., Moore said.
Lt. Gov. Josh Green is expected to cruise to a win and become Hawaii’s next governor, along with his lieutenant governor running mate, Sylvia Luke, the outgoing chair of the House Finance Committee who helped steer sometimes record levels of funding for programs dear to progressive Democrats during the past legislative session.
Two of Hawaii’s four congressional lawmakers, Schatz and U.S. Rep. Ed Case, are also expected to win reelection. Former state Sen. Jill Tokuda, a 2nd Congressional District candidate, is expected to join them in Washington, D.C., representing the neighbor islands and rural Oahu.
“It should be a pretty quick night,” Moore said.
Asked whether he expects a large vote count, Moore said: “Absolutely not. It certainly won’t be the blowout we had in 2020.”
INFORMATION ON VOTING
>> To register to vote in person today, elections officials suggest registering — or updating voter registration addresses — online at elections.hawaii.gov.
>> Voters waiting in line by today’s 7 p.m. scheduled closure of voter service centers across the islands must be allowed to vote. But registering online reduces the possibility that polls will have to remain open longer, delaying the release of statewide election results.
Stay updated on Hawaii and national elections coverage