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Housing, water on minds of voters as they cast their ballots

Lines pile up at voting center after some fail to receive ballots, others prefer in-person option

By Dakota Grossman 4 min read

WAILUKU -- A long line of ballot holders and last-minute voters wrapped around the voter service center at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku on Tuesday night.

Haiku resident Cachia Parks was one of the thousands of Maui County residents who stood in line on General Election Day to cast her vote, saying "I'm here to do my part" since it remains up to registered voters on which County Council candidates and state representatives will fill local government.

"The line is huge, it's crazy," Upcountry resident Des Walsh said while waiting with his son Tim, who just turned 18 and wanted to vote for the first time.

Tim, a Haleakala Waldorf student, said he's passionate about policies that will benefit local residents and businesses.

"I'm so young so I'm not sure what needs to be changed. I just want to see some policies that I like," he said. "I just see some about keeping big corporations out of Hawaii, keeping it local. And I have a few local friends who seem to want that as well."

Des Walsh said that he's hoping for "better water allocation" as his family has been using water catchment for 18 years while waiting for a water meter in Piiholo.

"We've gone, like, nowhere on the list," he said.

Maui County Clerk Kathy Kaohu, who was accompanied throughout the evening by a police officer, said that the foot traffic had been "nonstop" throughout Election Day with a steady stream of people dropping their ballots in the drop box or waiting in line to vote.

Though the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center had been open for voting services for the past two weeks, Kaohu said "it was very quiet."

"It started getting a little robust yesterday and then today from the start until the finish, it's been nonstop," she said. "The numbers are higher (than the primary election) as far as voters and ballot numbers."

As of Monday, the county had received about 36,000 ballots, and Kaohu guessed that over a thousand more residents arrived on Tuesday to vote in person.

Many people were voting in person because they didn't receive their ballots in the mail, which, according to Kaohu, could have been due to "an array of reasons."

This mishap is what brought Kahului residents Athena Kahaialii and Chris Emery to the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center.

"Unfortunately, I had just moved and I thought I had changed my voter registration and never got a mail-in and that's why I'm here in person," said Kahaialii.

Emery, who also moved, said he didn't get one either.

Still, they hoped to make their vote count -- and make it inside the service center on time -- so that the right officials could address affordable housing, which was "definitely" among their top concerns.

People continued to arrive during the final hour. Upon approaching the building, a man grumbled about how long the line was while a woman said that there should be more service centers available so that she doesn't have to commute 35 minutes.

Some individuals left as soon as they saw how many people were waiting to get inside the center to vote.

There were also a fair amount of people who said they were skeptical of mailing in their ballots and how that might affect the polls, but Kaohu reassured that "our system is very cut and dry" and that election workers are transparent.

First-year voter Eric Barut of Kahului brought his two young daughters to wait in line with him during the final 30 minutes of Election Day. While they played on the community center lawn, he noted how affordable housing has been "an issue for decades."

Barut also has his eye on the proposed charter amendment that, if passed, would create a Maui County Water Authority and regional community boards to manage water collection and delivery systems.

"We will see what happens," he said.

At 6:55 p.m., Kaohu along with security employees traversed the line to notify individuals that were still waiting that the doors and drop boxes would close in five minutes. Anyone not standing in line before 7 p.m. was turned away.

As the line of voters slowly but surely shortened following the deadline to submit ballots, a parking lot attendant cheered, "the escapade is over."

According to the second release of results from the state Office of Elections shortly before 10 p.m., a total of 353,504 people cast votes out of 861,358 registered voters statewide, a 41 percent turnout. Most voted by mail (336,816) while a smaller number voted in person (16,688).

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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