Your ballot for the August 8, 2020 election should be in your mailbox, at whatever mailing address you have on your voter registration.  If it is not….call the County Elections Office at 808-961-8277.

Some people may receive two ballots, IF they changed their information with the Elections Office after July 9.  If you do receive two ballots, only the second ballot will be valid.  The Elections Office will not accept the first ballot; if both get returned, the Elections Office will flag them and use only the appropriate ballot.

Although the election date is Saturday, August 8, and ballots must be in to the elections office by 7 p.m. — most people will mail their ballot back.  The postmark is not the operative date–the ballots themselves must be into the elections office by August 8.  So for people on the Big Island, they should mail their ballot back by August 4 to ensure successful delivery.  All mail from Hawaii Island goes to O’ahu before coming back to the Big Island.

Voters may also drop their ballot off at the Elections Office at either West Hawaii Civic Center or the County Building in Hilo at 25 Aupuni Street.  Additionally, the County Elections Office will have two Voter Service Centers open from July 27 through August 7, Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., and on Saturday August 8 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.  You may drop your ballot there –in Kona at West Hawaii Civic Center Community Room, 75-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building G, and at County of Hawaii Aupuni Center at 101 Pauahi Street.  Those people who may not have registered may register and vote at those two locations, and people with disabilities who cannot use the mail ballot but need a voting machine may also go to those locations.

Ballots may also be deposited in secure lock boxes around the island, from August 3, 24 hours a day until 7 p.m. on August 8.  The list of the secure lock boxes is at the bottom of this story.

The ballot has two sides.  One side has the nonpartisan races, which can be decided on August 8 if any candidate gets more than 50%.  That includes Hawaii County Mayor, Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney, and all County Council races.  You should vote for one  in each race.  If no candidate in those races gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters move on to the General Election on Tuesday, November 3 (which will also be an all-mail election).

The other side of the ballot has the races for which a candidate from each party will be elected to move on to the General Election.  These include Hawaii State Representative, Hawaii State Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and President and Vice President.   You may vote for candidates in only one party, i.e. if you select the Republican Party, you must vote the Republican ballot for all races, and cannot switch parties.  Hawaii has an “open primary,” so you do not need to be registered with any political party in order to vote for that party’s candidates.

To return the ballot:  fill out the ballot–both sides, by darkening the box for the candidates for whom you wish to vote, then fold your ballot and place it in the ballot secrecy sleeve, place it in the postage-paid return envelope, and sign the return envelope.  The envelope MUST be signed for your ballot to count.

How to find out about the candidates?  There are videos by the mayor candidates at www.hicc.biz, and videos of forums for County Council, Mayor, and County Prosecutor at waimeatown.org  Na Leo TV is running repeats of a two-part Mayor forum with all 15 candidates.  And on Sunday, July 26, both West Hawaii Today and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald plan to publish the mayor candidates’ answers to questions developed by the Big Island Press Club.

The online news source Civil Beat has published information about several candidates at civilbeat.org    Also, candidates for OHA are in forums online at https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/07/heres-what-you-should-know-about-the-oha-elections-this-year/

If you don’t mail your ballot or take it to West Hawaii Civic Center or Aupuni Center, you may deposit your ballot in secure lock boxes:

Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720

Naalehu Police Station 95-5355 Mamalahoa Highway Naalehu, HI 96772

Pahoa Police Station 15-2615 Keaau-Pahoa Road Pahoa, HI 96778

Rodney Yano Hall 82-6156 Mamalahoa Highway Captain Cook, HI 96704

Waimea Police Station 67-5185 Kamamalu Street Waimea, HI 96743

West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway Kailua-Kona, HI 96740