Ready to Vote? Ballots for the primary are now being routed to mailboxes on Oahu

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) — A little less than a month before the August primary, the city stopped mailing ballots Thursday to 478,000 registered voters on Oahu.

It’s quiet at the city’s ballot processing facility right now.

But in a week or so, the machines that check, count and sort returned ballots will be buzzing.

In 2020, 96% of the votes cast were sent by post.

“We are very excited about this,” said Glen Takahashi, Honolulu City Clerk.

“This is the process we recommend to all voters. There really is no need to queue up one day to cast your vote when you can get your package and take care of business ahead of time.”

For this election cycle, the city has deployed a total of 15 ballot return drop boxes throughout Oahu.

Those who prefer to vote in person can still do so at Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale. The city will also open pop-up voter service centers in Kaneohe and Wahiawa.

“The idea behind the pop-up centers was to offer a little bit more regional accessibility,” Takahashi explained. “We know it’s a long journey for those who live in the countryside and use public transport. So we wanted to at least get out there for a few days and give them a chance to do it in their neighborhood.”

Voters can also now track the status of their submitted ballots and if they need to request a new envelope, Visit the city’s election website.

“Go to our online by-election request system and request this by the end of next week, all voters should have received their ballots by that time,” Takahashi said.

All absentee ballots must be received (unposted) by 7pm on August 13th.

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