• Voting in the primary is important Voting in the primary is important Saturday is primary election day 2004 across Hawai‘i. While many voters are now choosing to use an absentee ballot, or go in to the historic County Building
• Voting in the primary is important
Voting in the primary is important
Saturday is primary election day 2004 across Hawai‘i.
While many voters are now choosing to use an absentee ballot, or go in to the historic County Building to walk-in absentee vote, the majority of voters are likely to turnout at their local polling stations Saturday.
This primary election lacks the draw of a presidential or gubernatorial election, but is an important one in determining who will be running in the County Council general election race and who will be in the November election on the state Board of Education ballot.
The only major in-party run-off is between incumbent state Rep. Ezra Kanoho and education-improvement advocate John Friedman in the East Kaua‘i primary Democratic Party run-off.
Recent national news articles have shown that Hawai‘i has one of the lowest voter-turnout percentages in the entire nation.
On Kaua‘i, this downward trend could change, with serious contests coming up in the November general election for seats in the state Legislature, in particular the state Senate race between incumbent state Sen. Gary Hooser, a Democrat, and former Kaua‘i Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, a Republican challenger for Hooser’s seat.
Former Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce President Mamo Cummings, a Republican, is taking on incumbent Democrat Mina Morita for Morita’s North Kaua‘i seat in the state House of Representatives.
Partisan voters may be drawn to the primary election, in turn boosting the voter count, to show support for their candidates be they Democratic, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, or of other party affiliation.
If the large number of large campaign signs now in place up and down busy streets on Kaua‘i and across Hawai‘i are an indicator of the stepped-up interest in the upcoming primary and general election, then voter turn out should be up.
The Garden Island will be providing day-by-day coverage of the primary election this week.
Watch for vote tallies in our Sunday edition, and coverage of who won and lost, and why, along with reaction from the candidates and leading figures in the political arena on Kaua‘i.
We encourage all registered voters to get out and vote both in the primary election this Saturday and in the general election in November.
A blank ballot is just as important in determining an election race as a cast ballot, as the 2002 presidential race for the state of Florida showed to the nation.
Every vote really does count.
It’s hoped the tight presidential election of four years ago, and the close race between President Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry this year, will help drive voters to the polls.
Statewide, elections officials are worried that a dearth of enticing primary races may keep voters away from the polls this Saturday.
The right to vote is one that needs exercising.
Don’t let us down, Kaua‘i.
