For unregistered voters, Monday's last chance
By Dave Dondoneau
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Obama-Biden or McCain-Palin? Hannemann or Kobayashi?
Steel rail or not steel rail? ConCon or no ConCon?
You don't have to make up your mind on those choices until Election Day, but you do have to be registered if you want to vote Nov. 4 — and Monday is the last day to do that.
All registration applications by mail must be postmarked no later than Monday. To register in person, you have until 4:30 p.m. Monday.
"I don't know if it's clicked in people's minds yet that if they miss out on registering to vote by Monday that they're done for the voting season," said Glenn Takahashi, the elections administrator for the Office of the City Clerk, which oversees voter registration on O'ahu.
"We haven't seen anything out of the ordinary yet as far as last-minute applications, but I think the real key is to turn out and vote, not just to register," Takahashi said.
There are about 682,000 registered voters in Hawai'i, he said, with 460,000 of those on Oahu.
State officials are hoping for a higher turnout than the record-low showing for Sept. 20's primary election.
Rex Quidilla, spokesman for the state Office of Elections, said voters can cast their ballots at early-voting polls from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1 at various locations.
"We've got 15 early-voting sites across the state and five in Honolulu alone," Quidilla said. "Absentee voting requests will be honored until Oct. 28, but we'd urge those wanting to absentee vote to apply as soon as possible."
Voters who've changed addresses or names since the last election should re-register for this year's elections. First-time voters registering to vote by mail must provide proof of identification.
You can use either a copy of a current photo ID or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or government document that shows your name and address.
Besides the votes on president, mayor, steel-rail trains and a constitutional convention, there will be seven contested races in the state Senate, 27 contested races in the state House and other races to decide.
Reach Dave Dondoneau at ddondoneau@honoluluadvertiser.com.