Trending
Federal changes blocked ahead of November election
Most Hawaii voters have been skipping the polls and voting from the comfort of their homes since the state moved to an all-mail election system in 2020, making the systems designed to safeguard the state's elections more consequential than ever.
Maui has relied heavily on the vote-by-mail system for the past six years. In the 2024 general election, 57,681 ballots were counted through the mail compared with 5,860 in-person votes -- meaning roughly 91% of voters who cast a ballot did so through the mail.
But that system is facing new questions.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order March 31 seeking to bring new federal requirements to the way mail-in and absentee ballots are distributed. The order directed the U.S. Postal Service to develop rules requiring ballot envelopes to carry unique barcodes and undergo USPS design review.
Trump also called for states to provide USPS with lists of voters eligible to receive mail ballots, with the agency directed to deliver ballots only to voters appearing on those lists. Separately, the order directed federal agencies to compile state-specific lists of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in federal elections.
"It would be chaos because some of the requirements that he reported would have been put into place would not have been able to be met by our office in a timely manner," said Scott Nago, Hawaii's chief elections officer, when asked about the Trump administration's attempted changes to federal election requirements.
"For example, the barcodes on envelopes -- we would have to start over from scratch," he said. "And at this point, there really isn't any time to start all over. You're going to have a supply chain issue because everybody's starting all over."
The proposed mail-in ballot changes will not be in effect for the November 2026 election. After legal challenges, federal courts issued preliminary injunctions blocking enforcement of the new USPS mail-ballot requirements for the 2026 election.
On Sept. 14, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to lift one of those injunctions, leaving the restrictions blocked for this year's midterm election while the broader legal challenges continue.
The court said the federal government was unlikely to succeed in its challenge to the injunction. As a result, the new USPS requirements will not be enforced for the 2026 election, and Hawaii's mail-voting system will largely operate under its existing rules.
For Maui County, where more than nine out of every 10 voters relied on mail in the 2024 general election, the question could affect how voters receive, return and cast their ballots.
Residents have limited options when it comes to voting in person. As Hawaii has increasingly relied on mail-in voting since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of in-person voting locations has remained limited.
Maui County has five in-person voting locations across the county, including three on the island of Maui, one on Lanai and one on Molokai. However, access on Maui is not evenly distributed.
While the Wailuku and Lahaina locations are open throughout the early-voting period, the Hana location is available for just one day, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 24. For residents in East Maui, that limited window can make in-person voting more difficult and may further contribute to a sense of isolation for residents who value voting as a way to participate in their community.
"We need a few more additional voting in-person locations. I have been pounding the in-person question because it's just very strange to me how we don't acknowledge that and how people try to write off concerns," said Camron Hurt, executive director of Common Cause Hawaii.
Hurt added that having such limited polling locations for an island with Maui’s population is “insane.” Ultimately, Hurt said, the goal should be "making sure we make it as efficient as possible, as reliant as possible, but also as easy as possible for people to vote."
Both Hurt and Nago noted that mail-in voting has been in place for much longer than the six years since COVID. Hurt said mail-in voting has been around since the Civil War, while Nago explained how it was conducted in the 1980s and early 2000s.
"I don't know why there's a belief that mail-in voting is fraudulent," said Nago. "It's a secure system. It's been used in Hawaii since the '80s, when we had no-excuse absentee voting."
Nago said mail voting became increasingly popular in the mid-2000s. "It's convenient for voters. You don't have to go anywhere. It comes to you. So we've been doing some type of mail elections since I've been here, and I've been here since the late '90s."
Many states have resisted the administration's attempts to access voter information and efforts to enact new voting rules at the federal level. Hawaii is included in the order, but Nago said the Elections Office is addressing elections one at a time.
"There are so many issues that come along with elections. If we had to make a contingency plan for every contingency, we would not be able to administer elections," Nago said when asked about plans for future elections. "We have to prioritize and see what is more likely to happen, or what contingencies are more important or more immediate in case they do happen."
Executive branch actions have included requests for mass voter roll data, attempts to alter postal processing through third parties such as USPS, and the potential use of federal troops at polling places.
"Voting and elections are a constitutional function of the state. That is a state right that is completely enshrined in the Constitution. The federal government does not have that right," Hurt said.
Questions about the legitimacy of mail-in voting, lack of voter turnout and interest in the general elections have risen over the years.
In the 2020 general election, about 93.6% of participating Maui voters cast ballots by mail. In 2024, mail voting was down slightly, but still accounted for 90.8% of ballots cast.
That reliance has continued into 2026. In this year's primary, 33,351 Maui County voters cast mail ballots, compared with 921 who voted in person. Mail ballots represented 97.3% of all ballots cast.
Registered voters should receive their mail-in ballots beginning around Oct. 16.
Maui's main voter service center in Wailuku will be open for the two weeks leading up to Election Day on Nov. 3, while the Lahaina, Lanai and Molokai centers will operate during the three days immediately preceding the election.
For updated information regarding voting services, go to mauicountyvotes.gov/.
Allyson Whaley is reporting for The Maui News as part of the Maui Nui Media and Creativity Collaborative Investigative Elections Reporting Fellowship, which supports expanded reporting on Maui County elections.