Deadline nears for nearly 3,000 flagged Hawaii mail-in ballots

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Nearly 3,000 mail-in ballots flagged as invalid in Hawaii could be thrown out if they are not fixed by Tuesday afternoon.

Many were flagged because of missing or mismatched signature issues.

Few flagged ballots fixed so far

In the past six days, about 3,100 voters statewide were notified that their mail-in ballots were remain unopened.

Since then, only 264 have cured, or fixed, the issue. Most of those are from Maui County, with 162.

Colin Moore, HNN political analyst, said Maui drew attention during the election because it “had some of the most exciting races.”

Moore said the response differs on Oahu.

“I think most of them know that probably it’s not going to make a difference and haven’t bothered to respond,” he said.

Close races

In August’s primary, a handful of cured ballots were enough to flip some races. But those margins were razor thin.

Close general election contests are separated by larger margins.

One of the tightest races was on Maui, in House District 14. Green Party candidate Paele Kiakona beat Sne Patel by 107 votes.

So far, about 30 people have cured ballots in that district, but 115 remain invalid.

OHA trustee race

The statewide OHA at-large race for trustee was also close. Brickwood Galuteria beat John Waihee IV for the final spot by about 1,000 votes.

With thousands of invalid ballots still sealed statewide, there is a small but unlikely chance the results could change.

“The OHA races did shift a lot, with some folks going from, you know, the fourth place up. It was pretty volatile on election night,” Moore said.

He said a change in the result would require nearly all of the invalid ballots to favor one candidate.

“It is mathematically possible, but practically, extremely unlikely,” he said.

What happens next

The elections office said the flagged ballots will not be counted unless they can be verified.

Voters have until Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. to fix the issue. In some cases, it can be done online or in person. The certified results is expected to be released Tuesday night.