Precinct workers on the Big Island report voter turnout was up on Tuesday.

“We’ve had about 550 voters so far, and I think we’ll have more than the 750 or 800 we had in the last general election,” volunteer assistant Caysen-Kyle Kanekoa told us Tuesday afternoon.  He helped man the polling station at Honokaa Intermediate and High School.

Voters arrived at the school at a steady pace. Despite full voting booths, no line ever formed. The small crowd outside was simply friends and neighbors talking story.

Lani Olsen-Chong, precinct chair at the Waimea Community Center polling station, said she believes the turnout will be as good or better than 2008 because of the large rush in the morning and the steady stream of voters that continued thereafter.

“We opened on time and things have gone very smoothly,” Olsen-Chong said.

Outside, keiki giggled and played on the lawn in the sunshine while mommy, daddy and auntie were inside making decisions about their future.

In both Waimea and Honokaa, the atmosphere was busy but relaxed and poll workers were brimming with aloha. Hilo was another story.

At Edith Kanakaile Stadium, the 16 voting booths were almost mostly empty in the late afternoon. Perhaps it was the stellar weather outside that kept people away. The vog and rain had cleared and the waves in the bay were knee to chest high.   

Although it was eerily quiet in the tennis stadium, precinct chair Robyn Riedel said turnout is up by about 300 voters compared to last year.

Lone poll watcher, Jenipher Jones, from the Republican Party said she was impressed by how well Riedel and the volunteers were running the station. The workers appeared but tired.

“They’ve been out here since 5:30 this morning and are doing a fantastic job,” Jones said from her seat across the room. She said she witnessed only a few voting violations, like two in a voting booth, but added that it’s not that serious.

“I call it a Hawaii thing,” she said. One man showed up wearing a political T-shirt, and he had to cover it with a tarp before he was allowed to enter, she added.

About 10 voters were turned away for not having picture identification, according to a volunteer at the door.

— Vanessa VanVoorhis