HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Primary Election voting wrapped up in Honolulu without a big rush of in-person voters where people walked in to Honolulu Hale to fill out their ballots, but there was a consistent flow of residents who pulled up to drop their ballots off at the drop boxes.
Authorities said 98% of Hawaii's votes are sent in through the mail but some residents just preferred to turn out on election day.
Mark Villanueva waited until the last day to drop off his ballot.
"Better late then never. So, go ahead and vote! We had some time, but I just wanted to make sure that I could get through. And I see you have drive thru and you got the drops and everyone's there to greet you," Villanueva said.
Other voters preferred to cast their vote by filing out their ballots at Honolulu Hale and said no vote, no grumble.
"And if we stand aside and don't participate, then we've sort of give -- in my mind -- we've kind of given up our right to grumble about it," Linda Rich said. "That's part of why I like to vote in person. It just reminds me that we can do this and there's no one trying to prevent us from voting."
About 2% of votes are done in-person statewide, Hawaii County ballot counts as of 4 p.m. showed almost 45,000 mail-in versus just over 1,300 at the Voter Service Center.
On Maui, just shy of 25,000 ballots came in through the mail and a little under 500 voted in person. Over 150,000 votes came in through the mail on Oahu as of Friday, Aug. 9 -- only 1,200 in person and the Honolulu City Clerk called the pace a bit sluggish.
"Every election is important, whether it's a primary election, general or even a special election. But we tend to see lower turnouts in primary elections and in special elections that are held separately from the regular elections," Glen Takahashi said. "Whether you do it by mail or in person, you know, just get it done. That's the main thing."
"I've always said to my family, 'If you don't vote, you can't complain about who won or whatever,'" voter Sherry Dela Cruz said.
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The statewide voter turnout was at 32% as of 6 p.m. on Saturday. Officials said they tested out a new voter service entrance at Honolulu Hale as a test run for the General Election -- voters will need to enter on the sides of Honolulu Hale rather than on the entrance that is on the King Street side.