Kauaʻi voters turnout on Election Day; ballots must be received by 7 p.m. to count

As Erin Olsen slipped her ballot into a dropbox near the Historic County Annex Building in Lihu‘e on the morning of Election Day, she said: “I’m so grateful to be able to take advantage of the right to vote.”

The Kapa‘a resident was part of the steady stream of residents who trickled into the Annex Building’s Voter Service Center early on Nov. 8, before polls close for good at 7 p.m. and when ballots must be received to count.

“Hopefully (my vote will) bring about some change that will benefit the community,” Olsen said before making way for the growing line behind her.

Kauaʻi residents can vote in person, drop off their ballots, get a replacement ballot or do same-day voter registration at the Voter Service Center.

Candidates for county, state and national office are on this year’s ballot for Kauaʻi voters, as are four Kauaʻi County ballot questions.

David Mona, of Kalaheo, hopes to see Kaua‘i Mayor Derek Kawakami re-elected to office.

“I hope he keeps doing a great job,” Mona said.

Kawakami appears slated for an easy victory over challenger Michael Roven Poai, a longtime employee of the County Parks & Recreation Department. Kawakami captured more than 73% of the votes cast in August’s primary election, while Poai garnered only 11.3%.

Only 33% of the 41,196 ballots mailed to Kaua‘i voters had been returned as of Monday night.

At that time, an additional 564 individuals had voted early in person, according to the Kaua‘i County Elections Division.

Several in-person voters were overheard expressing distrust of the U.S. electoral process, Monday. One man worried some were placing “extra” ballots in the Annex Building dropbox, but declined to vote in-person, implying poll workers could not be trusted.

Another man, pointing to the red, white, and blue balloons decorating the dropbox, noted there was one more blue balloons than red. He told a nearby poll worker this was “subliminal messaging” to sway voters, in an apparent reference to blue and red as Democratic and Republican colors, respectively.

A group of women told the same poll worker the “last election” had been invalidated by “double-counted” votes.

“God’s will will be done, our candidates will win this time,” one said.

Kauaʻi Now will have fast local and state results, updated every five minutes. The first results are expected to be available at about 7:30 p.m. tonight.