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Hawai'i General Election: 180K Votes Already Cast

Wayne Yoshioka

Precinct voting for the General Election in Hawai’i kicks off at 7 AM tomorrow.

 

 

Credit Wayne Yoshioka
Chief Election Officer, Scott Nago

The State Office of Elections checked equipment and distributed ballots, voter registration and reporting forms at more than 200 precinct polling stations statewide.   Chief election officer, Scott Nago, says so far, 25 percent of all registered voters have cast ballots.

 

“I’d say over 180-thousand people have already cast their ballot, they either mailed it in or they voted walk.  We don’t know what the turnout is going to be tomorrow, but, we’re ready.”

 

Nago says the precincts are staffed and ready for any surge in voter turnout.  And, for the first time, eligible residents can register and vote at the polls on the same day.

 

“This year election, if you’re not registered to vote you can to to a polling place – make sure you go to your proper polling place – register and cast your ballot.  So, to find your proper polling place you can just go online to our polling place locator, type in your address and it will tell you where your polling place is.”

 

But, many races were settled in the Primary Election, with 17 legislative races uncontested and not appearing on the ballot.  And, the number of Democratic voters eclipsed Republicans by a considerable margin.  In fact, if 3 out of 4 Democrats voting in the Primary Election stayed home and did not vote, Republicans would still be outnumbered two-to-one.  Nago cannot comment on the lopsided nature of voting in Hawai’i but he has seen trends change since he started working at the elections office in 1998.

 

“In Hawai’i, it used to be gubernatorial elections had higher turnout than presidential elections.  But that hasn’t been the case, recently.  Somewhere around 2008, the trend started to shift back to follow the nation.”

 

For HPR News, I’m Wayne Yoshioka.

 

 

Hawai’i Public Radio will provide NPR coverage and commentary on mainland races beginning at 3 P-M tomorrow …as well as local race results starting with the first state evening printout. 

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Wayne Yoshioka
Wayne Yoshioka is an award-winning journalist who has worked in television, print and radio in Hawaiʻi. He also has been on both sides of politics as a state departmental appointee and political/government reporter. He covered Hurricane Iwa (1982) as a TV reporter; was the State Department of Defense/Civil Defense spokesperson for Hurricane Iniki (1992); and, commanded a public affairs detachment in Afghanistan (2006). He has a master's degree in Communication from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and is a decorated combat veteran (Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and 22 other commendation/service medals). He resides in Honolulu.
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