Hundreds of additional poll workers have been recruited over the past two weeks, leaving only a few empty positions for Hawai'i's general election today, officials said.

Some standby workers also have been signed up in case scheduled workers don't show up at their precincts, as happened in the Sept. 23 primary election.

The precautions were among the final preparations for today's election, in which voters will choose a governor, a U.S. senator, two U.S. representatives and dozens of state and county officials.

In addition, specialists have tested the computer system that tabulates election results, and more than 100,000 absentee ballots have been received from people who voted early.

Overall voter turnout is expected to be low, but that doesn't necessarily mean that voters won't have to wait in line at polling places.

Officials hope to minimize any delays or confusion. More than one of every 10 poll workers usually "drop off" during every election, but others are sometimes recruited on the spot, state elections chief Dwayne Yoshina said.

"What we do usually is, during the course of the day, we ask people who vote whether or not they'd like to help us, and they get trained on the job," he said. "People do agree to help us."

There were no standby workers lined up as of yesterday morning, according to Yoshina.

But officials later began contacting some just in case, precinct coordinator Judy Gold said.

Just two weeks ago, the state needed about 400 more poll workers. Now, there are only about 10 empty positions, in Kalihi, Mililani, Pearl City and Kaimuki, Gold said.

The state sometimes recruits many standby workers in advance, but the situation varies from election to election, Yoshina said.

"It goes up and down, and we do our best, given the circumstances," he said.

Today's election is expected to run more smoothly than the primary because many workers gained valuable experience then and are better prepared now, Yoshina said.

Problems calculating voter turnout percentages for each political party had delayed the release of results for hours during the primary.

But the computer system that tabulates election results was tested on Saturday and appeared to be working smoothly, Yoshina said.

"The system is OK, and it's been locked down," he said. "I'm just always guardedly optimistic. I've learned over the years that if it's run by electricity and you gotta plug it in, it's probably gonna fail. We do our best to make sure that everything is going to work, but there are some things that are just beyond our control."

The first results, which include most absentee ballots, should be released about 7:30 p.m., he said. The next count should include about half the ballots cast today, and be released about 9:30 p.m., he said. Near-final results are expected before midnight.

In some other jurisdictions, results are made public as they are received from precincts. But such information is released in larger chunks here so that it will be as meaningful as possible, officials said.

"When we consolidate the results, we have to make sure the information we give is accurate," Yoshina said. "There are some jurisdictions that may do it in flow, but what happens sometimes is that bad information gets out, and then they have a hell of a time trying to correct that information."

It's more important to ensure the accuracy of election results than to release them quickly, he said. There were no problems with the accuracy of results in the primary, he added.

"I've always said that if it's speed or accuracy, I'm going to always go with accuracy. Because once you let the information out, you can't recall it," Yoshina said.

He urged voters to make sure they go to their correct polling places, bring photo identification, and study the proposed amendments to the state Constitution and Honolulu Charter in advance to avoid confusion.

More than 101,000 voters have already cast absentee ballots, either through the mail or in person, state voter services coordinator Rex Quidilla said.

Early polling places closed Saturday, and the final number of walk-in ballots was 34,860, or about 2,750 more than were cast in the primary, he said.

Mail-in ballots were still arriving, and about 66,600 have been received so far, or about 3,700 less than were cast in the primary, he said.

In total, more than 102,000 absentee ballots were cast in the primary, and more than 110,000 were cast in the 2002 general election, the last election that included a governor's race, Quidilla said.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.