By Wendy Osher

A district mapping mistake on Maui could affect where some Central Maui residents report to vote in tomorrow’s Primary Election. Presently, there are approximately 373 registered voters affected, or about 175 households in the Legends at Maui Lani and Na Hoku subdivisions in Kahului.

The mistake has some Central Maui residents assigned to polling places that are not in their district. Those that are affected were mistakenly placed in the 8th District (the race that includes Thomas Cerizo-D, Justin Hughey-D, Tasha Kama-D, Dean Schmucker-R, and Joe Souki-D) instead of the 9th District (that includes candidates Jeff Hoylman-R and Gil Keith-Agaran-D) where they belong.

Wailuku Elementary School precinct. File photo by Wendy Osher.

The affected voters were mistakenly assigned to Wailuku Elementary School instead of the Kahului School polling place where they are supposed to vote to get the correct ballot.

Jeff Kuwada with the Maui County Clerks office said, “Registered voters whose residence address zip code is 96732 and who received a Notice of Voter Registration and Address Confirmation Postcard (commonly referred to as the “Yellow Card”) informing them that their assigned polling place is Wailuku Elementary School Cafeteria, District/Precinct 08/05, have a couple of options.” He advises affected voters to first call the Clerk’s Office at 270-7749 to confirm their correct polling place assignment. Those who choose to follow their yellow card assignment at Wailuku Elementary School Cafeteria, District/Precinct 08/05, can report to the location; there, polling workers will determine whether they are at the correct polling place, or not. If they are not at the correct polling place, polling place officials will direct them to their correct polling site. In the alternative affected voters, they can go directly to Kahului Elementary School Cafeteria to vote.

For the 18 voters who voted walk-in absentee ballots, their ballots have been cast. Election officials say, unfortunately, there is no way to retrieve these ballots to give these voters the opportunity to vote the proper ballot.

Presently, the Office of Elections has determined that 42 registered voters requested and were sent absentee-mail ballots. To date, the Maui County Clerk’s Office has received 38 of those voted ballots. On Friday, September 17, 2010, an attempt was made to contact by telephone all 42 registered voters to inform them of the situation and ask them to go to Kahului Elementary School Cafeteria, District/Precinct 09/05, to cast the proper ballot. If any of these registered voters vote at Kahului Elementary School Cafeteria, their absentee-mail ballot will be invalidated (in order to assure that they are not allowed to vote twice). For those registered voters who voted by absentee-mail and do not go to Kahului Elementary School Cafeteria on Primary Election day, their absentee-mail ballots will be duplicated on the correct ballot type and counted. It should be noted that votes from these mailed in ballots that were cast for District 8 races will not be counted; however, votes in countywide races will be counted.

Representative Gil Keith-Agaran (D), who is running for re-election in the District 9 House race, had planned to walk door to door Friday afternoon to advise affected voters of the development.

“I want to make sure that all votes count and that they are counted for the right races. I encourage all residents of the Legends at Maui Lani and Na Hoku at Maui Lani to vote at Kahului Elementary School tomorrow,” said Keith-Agaran.

The polls will be open at KAHULUI SCHOOL from 7 AM to 6PM on Saturday September 18th. Again, those unsure of their correct polling place can avoid confusion by calling the County Clerk’s office directly at 270-7749.