Residents wait in line at the Velma McWayne Community Center in Wailuku on Tuesday night to cast their votes. The Maui News/Megan Moseley photo

The voting results in Maui County announced Wednesday morning are not as final as some might hope, adding drama to the race where Councilman Tom Cook has a slim lead of 117 votes.

As of Wednesday morning, the preliminary results have Cook in the lead with 26,315 votes over 26,198 for King.

However, there were still 1,069 deficient envelopes holding ballots, according to the Maui County Clerk’s Office, which is still contacting voters and awaiting their cured ballots. The deadline to receive the cured ballots is 4:30 p.m. Nov. 13.

“Every voter with a deficient ballot envelope has been mailed a letter with an affidavit form and instructions,” County Clerk Moana Lutey said Friday. “These letters were mailed out as the ballot return envelopes were received.”

On Friday, Maui County Deputy Clerk Richelle Thomson said the office was contacting people who did not sign their ballots and also those whose signatures did not appear to be the same as the signatures on their voter registration or driver’s license.

Thomson said the clerk’s office was also calling and emailing people with deficient voting envelopes in addition to notifying them by mail.

The clerk’s office began contacting people with deficient voting envelopes days before Election Day, and some were included in the votes cast. However, the 1,069 deficient envelopes remained uncounted after the election on Tuesday.

Voter turnout was 63,275 or 55% of the registered voters in Maui County with 57,415 mail-in ballots and 5,860 voting in person. Voting at the Velma McWayne Community Center in Wailuku continued past 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Thomson said the clerk’s office is continuing to evaluate its performance, though Thomson noted that the Maui County Clerk’s Office was the first among the counties in Hawai’i to turn in its voting results.

“The conduct of the election was very successful,” Thomson said.

Thomson said the county plans to continue its voter education and outreach efforts while encouraging people not to wait until the last minute to cast a vote.