Oahu election results hold firm after 25K more ballots counted

About 25,000 ballots from Oahu voters in Tuesday’s general election tallied up Wednesday night didn’t alter any outcomes among candidates despite a few close races for seats in Hawaii’s State Legislature.

The closest race previously had been between state Rep. Julie Reyes Oda (R, Ewa Beach-­Iroquois Point), who was leading Democratic challenger Rose Martinez by 16 votes. After the latest fourth printout results, Oda capped a victory with 155 more votes than Martinez.

City and County of Honolulu elections officials took longer than other counties to deliver all valid ballots, which had been cast by Tuesday evening’s voting deadline, to a tabulation center run by the state Office of Elections.

County officials delivered 25,354 additional ballots for counting Wednesday night, and a fourth tally of results with those additional ballots showed no changes in outcomes among candidates compared with the prior update released Wednesday morning.

A final count is still pending, and will include relatively small additions based on voters who submitted ballots in sealed envelopes with signature deficiencies and will make an effort to correct the deficiencies. Under state law, voters in such instances are notified that their ballots weren’t counted and have five business days, until Nov. 10, to cure the defect.

The volume of potential votes from cured ballots isn’t expected to be enough to sway any races.