Hawaii County is opening a new polling place in Keaau this year.
Hawaii County is opening a new polling place in Keaau this year.
Voters in Precinct 03-02 can cast their ballots at the Keaau Elementary School cafeteria during the Aug. 13 primary and Nov. 8 general elections.
The precinct was previously restricted to absentee voting.
It borders the South Hilo/Puna district boundary, Keaau-Pahoa Road and Milo Street.
Pat Nakamoto, county elections administrator, said precincts need to have at least 500 registered voters to get their own polling place. That precinct now has 523.
Overall, the trend remains toward absentee voting.
In 2014, more than half of voters chose to cast their ballot by mail or through early walk-in voting during the primary and general elections. In the primary, 61 percent of ballots were cast as absentee. That dropped to 54.5 percent in the general.
Nakamoto said she expects that trend to continue.
Absentee ballots were being mailed the week of July 18.
Voters who register during early walk-in voting also will be allowed to cast an absentee ballot, she said. But they can only vote as walk-in absentee this election since they missed the voter registration deadline.
Early Walk-in voting runs from Aug. 1-11. Ballots can be cast at the Aupuni Center in Hilo, Pahala Community Center, West Hawaii Civic Center and Waimea Community Center.
For the general election, early walk-in voting lasts from Oct. 25-Nov. 5.
The deadline to register for the general election is Oct. 10.