LIHUE — Proving it’s never too late to start voting, 62-year-old Gary Komers registered to vote for the first time Monday.
It wasn’t that hard, he said, and if he can do it, anyone can.
“I’m just a little bit disappointed with how things are looking in the future for everybody as far as the Congress and the way the FBI has been handling their investigations and just the basic nonsense that’s going on out there,” he said at the Election Division’s drive-thru voter registration booth. “Time for me to vote.”
Today is the last day to register to vote in the general election. The county’s drive-thru voter registration booth will be in the parking lot behind the Election’s Division office.
Monday, 18 people registered to vote, bringing total voter registrations for the county to 44,330. Since the Aug. 11 primary election, 493 people have registered to vote.
Early walk-in voting is from Oct. 23 to Nov. 3 and the last day to submit an absentee mail application for the general election is Oct. 30.
Komers said he has never been involved in politics, but now is the time.
“I’m tired of what’s happening,” he said.
His biggest concern is simply the truth.
“Everybody I know knows what the truth is. It’s not what Rudy Giuliani and Trump think it is,” he said. “A lie isn’t a lie until it’s proven a lie. The truth will always reveal itself.”
Komers, who lives in his sailboat at Nawiliwili Harbor, said he’s not proud of the fact that he’s never voted, but there comes a time when everybody needs to come clean.
“If you want to help, you need to stand up,” he said.
Drive-thru voter registration is available until 4:30 p.m. today, but for those who can’t make it, there are other options.
If mailed, voter registrations must be postmarked on or before Oct. 9, and online voter registration transactions must be submitted by 4:30 p.m.
Voter registration forms are available online at http://elections.hawaii.gov/ and at United States post offices, public libraries and most state agencies.
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Bethany Freudenthal, Crime, courts and county reporter, 652-7891, bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com
