Few problems reported at polling places statewide

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Some voters had to deal with the elements getting to the polls, and once they got there, they ran into a few familiar problems.

Elections officials say all of Hawaii's activated polling sites opened on time at 7 a.m.

"I think it was good. I'm glad I came in early," said McCully resident David Kalahiki. " I did want to participate in this, not that I'm going to grumble, but I put my position in there and hope for the best."

Officials say a few sites were short-staffed, some lacked supplies, and some had communication or machine problems.

Washington Middle School didn't face any of those problems early on, but like many places, there were several issues with how voters filled out their ballots.

Precint officials say the most common issue was cross party voting. It is a primary election, so you can only vote for candidates in your selected party. Some voters didn't mark any party at all. Others failed to fill in the bubbles properly.

"I did hear somebody say that they messed up their ballot by going outside the lines," said Jan Waiolama, a Kailua resident. "I guess if you press too hard youc an go through the paper, but you just have to be careful."

Poll workers allowed voters to fix their errors manually or re-issued them a new ballot.

Other voting problems were technical, causing some delays for voters. There was an electronic voting machine issue at Keolu Elementary school right at the start of the voting day. An e-scan machine, which is used for counting ballots, went down for about an hour. Election officials say people were still able to vote.