While the June 27 lava flow has yet to reach Highway 130, election officials will still allow voters in precinct 04-03 to cast their ballot today in Hawaiian Paradise Park rather than Pahoa if they so chose.
While the June 27 lava flow has yet to reach Highway 130, election officials will still allow voters in precinct 04-03 to cast their ballot today in Hawaiian Paradise Park rather than Pahoa if they so chose.
The state Office of Elections announced Oct. 28 voters assigned to the Pahoa Community Center who live north of the lava flow were instructed to cast their ballot at the Hawaiian Paradise Community Center instead.
That was in anticipation of lava crossing the highway before Election Day, thereby making it difficult for about 2,000 registered voters to make it the polls.
The lava flow since has stalled 480 feet from Pahoa Village Road, and more than a half-mile from the highway, but Hawaii County Clerk Stewart Maeda said both locations will remain available to 04-03 precinct voters. The precinct covers voters in Ainaloa and lower Puna west of the highway and Pohoiki Road.
“Because we were anticipating the lava would have impacted Highway 130 by election day, that’s why it was chosen to consolidate,” Maeda said. “Because it hasn’t, we’re still allowing people to vote at either locations.”
Keonepoko Elementary School also remains open as a polling place, he said.
This is the second time this year election officials have made changes to voting in lower Puna because of disasters.
The Aug. 9 primary saw the closure of two polling places because of Tropical Storm Iselle. But unlike the primary, no polls are being closed this time.
Because of the lava flow concerns, the county opened a walk-in absentee voting site in Nanawale Estates.
Maeda said 303 voters used that site. In total, 6,440 ballots were cast at early walk-in sites around the county.
What’s at stake
Seven of the nine County Council seats were decided following the Aug. 9 primary, and voters today will determine the fate of candidacies in Districts 5 and 9.
Hawaiian Acres residents Daniel Paleka, a former corrections officer, and Tiffany Edwards Hunt, a businesswoman, are vying for the District 5 seat.
The district represents Kurtistown, Orchidland, Hawaiian Acres, Mountain View, parts of Keaau, Fern Acres, Eden Roc, Fern Forest, Pahoa mauka and Kalapana.
The winner will replace County Council member Zendo Kern, who chose not to seek re-election.
In District 9, County Council member Margaret Wille is facing challenger Ron Gonzales, a restaurateur and former chairman of the Windward Planning Commission.
The district represents North Kohala, Waikoloa Village and most of Waimea.
Big Island voters also will decide the winners of three state Senate races and five state House races, and will weigh in on the highly contested governor’s race, new Office of Hawaiian Affairs representatives, a U.S. Senate seat, and the U.S. House District 2 seat, representing rural Oahu and the neighbor islands.
But the election is not all about candidates.
There are five state constitutional amendments and one county charter amendment on the ballot.
The proposed amendment getting the most attention statewide is one to allow public funds to support private preschools. Hawaii is one of 11 states that doesn’t publicly fund early education.
The county’s proposed charter amendment would lengthen the term of the county clerk from two to four years, and require a two-thirds vote from County Council for removal.
Polls are open from 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.