Lines Long But Manageable on Election Day at Maui’s Voting Service Center

Maui voters wait in line Election Day 2020 at the Voting Service Center at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku. Photo Credit: Cammy Clark

Election Day campaigners wave their signs at an allowable distance from the Voting Service Center at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku. Photo Credit: Cammy Clark

About 130 people were in line midway during Election Day 2020 at the Voting Service Center at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku. Photo Credit: Cammy Clark

The line at the Voting Service Center snaked around the parking lot at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku. Photo Credit: Cammy Clark

Midway through Election Day, the lines have been consistently long but manageable at Maui’s Voting Service Center, located at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku.

At 1 p.m., there were about 130 voters waiting in a line that snaked around the parking lot and onto the sidewalk of the street. People said that it took between 75 and 90 minutes to reach the front of the line.

When Brian Holmes of Lahaina was told he had about an hour plus to wait, he said: “That’s pretty good.” He had voted before in Maryland where lines were much worse.

If you want to still vote, it’s not too late. Any voter who is in line at the Voting Service Center by 7 p.m. today will be able to vote. An on-site election official will determine the last person in line at that cutoff time.

Maui residents 18 or older also can still register to vote for today’s election at the Voting Service Center. In Maui County, there are two other Voting Service Centers: at the Mitchell Pauole Center Conference Room at Kaunakakai, Molokaʻi, and the Lānaʻi Council District Office, at the Lānaʻi Community Center, on 8th Street, Lānaʻi City.

Hawaiʻi is the fifth state to use all-mail balloting. The first was Oregon in 1998, followed by Washington, Colorado and Utah.

Maui County residents still can drop off a ballot at the Voting Services Center (without standing in line) or at the “Places of Deposit.” Ballots must be received by 7 p.m. today to count. The Places of Deposit are located at the following:

• 7 fire stations on Maui (Hāna, Wailea, Kihei, Makawao, Kula, Nāpili and Kahului)
• 3 community centers (Haʻikū, Pāʻia and Lahaina Civic Center)
• Kalana O Maui County building in Wailuku
• Inside the Aloha ʻĀina Center near Island Paws in Haʻikū.

This is the first general election of all-mail balloting for Hawaiʻi, but people were at the Voting Service Center to vote in-person for a variety of reasons.

“I just want to vote in person because I donʻt trust [mail balloting],” Holmes said. “Iʻm old school, and it’s fun to be part of the process.”

Vivian Culpepper said she was “just going with the flow.”

And Lexi Justus of Hāna said she didn’t receive a ballot by mail was not upset despite a four-hour round trip drive to the Voting Service Center. “I’m also doing a Costco run,” she said.