Hawaiʻi may switch to all-mail elections in 2020

The Office of Elections testified that $1 million would be needed to purchase ballot scanners, sorters, security containers and drop-off boxes. Funding would also go to voter education.

But switching to all-mail voting would save the state about $750,000 per election cycle in labor costs, the office said.

It can be especially hard for lower-income voters to get to the polls on Election Day, wrote the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice in testimony. They may work far from their polling place or have difficulty taking time off work.

This is the fourth consecutive year that some legislators have pushed for voting by mail. Two of the other three attempts died in conference committee, while the third came close to clearing both chambers.