Voters urged to cast ballots as Election Day nears

Election Day is Tuesday and the final push is on to get voters to the polls.

All sides are calling on voters to urge them to make their voices heard.

A record number of people statewide are registered to vote, more than 705,000, making for a busy day shaping up at the polls on Tuesday’s Election Day 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"If voters vote during the off-peak times,maybe between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Those are good times to show up to the polls and maybe the lines aren’t quite as long," says Elections Administrator Glen Takahashi. "If you’re in the line at 6 p.m. We’ll let everybody whose in line at that time vote."

While overall turnout is yet to be seen, more than a quarter of registered voters have already cast a ballot. More than 41,000 voted statewide by walk-in and over 145,000 and counting by mail. Officials say it could constitute between 45 and 50 percent of votes cast this election. If you’re still holding an absentee ballot:

"I wouldn’t recommend mailing it today, I would say drop it off at City Hall or drop it off at any polling site on Election Day, we need to get it and have it in hand by 6 p.m.," Takahashi says.

Because of the growing prevalence of early voting, our first pass at the numbers when we report from the Capitol Tuesday night could define the trend for the final results.

At around 7 p.m. or what’s called the "first printout," we’ll know 80% of the absentee mail and all walk-ins. At 8 p.m., 90% of mail and 30% of precincts. More results are expected on the hour through 11 p.m.

Meanwhile the Democratic and Republican parties will be doing everything they can to remind people to get to the polls. Phones were being dialed nonstop Monday, and volunteers were going door to door.

"And if they have voted, thank them for that, if they need a ride to the polls we can help them with that. If they say that they’re thinking about voting, then we try to persuade them it would be a good idea, that this is an important election," says Andy Winer of the Hawaii Democratic Party.

"We’re reminding people to go, where they’re voting from, reminding people tomorrow is Election Day, reminding people they can still take their ballots to the polling place," said Nacia Blom of the Hawaii Republican Party.