Election year

This is an election year and in the past few weeks signs have been popping up along the road or in front of homes and businesses in support of candidates. Less than two months remain to register to vote.

• Primary election is August 9, 2014
• General election is November 4, 2014

County mayor, council, and prosecuting attorney will be on the ballot in addition to governor and state representative. The county council members are "at-large" meaning each serves the entire island rather than having regional seats. The top 14 vote getters in the primary vie for the 7 seats going to the top 7 vote getters in the general election.

By far the strongest early showing on the streets is our incumbent mayor Bernard Carvalho: not just signs but he has people waving his signs by the highway. Last election he won easily and I have heard folks here opine that he doesn't have any serious competition this year. It's too early to tell as there are a few weeks left for candidate filings so the process has just begun.

So many people I have asked about local government shake their heads and complain. There certainly have been reasons to worry, but one easy improvement that is very doable is better voter turnout. In 2012 general election voter turnout was 62.9% (25,617 of 40,738 registered voters).

For politics, I realize this is a rather bland opinion-free posting, but I am just beginning to learn about all this so will wait until I actually have some insight before sharing my critical thoughts on candidates.

Official county elections information is available at kauai.gov/elections or see state elections where results will be posted.