Change the List

Hawaii ties for last in voting

(CNN) — Hawaii tied West Virginia for 49th place in voter turnout in the November election — and I’m pretty pumped about it. That may seem like a strange thing to be excited about, or even to know about, but hear me out on this: Since September, I’ve been writing about Hawaii’s lowest-of-the-low voter turnout rate for a new CNN project called Change the List. The goal, as the project name spells out in even-Ke$ha-can-understand terms (sorry, Ke$ha, I’m sure you’re smart, but that dollar sign …), was to bump Hawaii off the bottom of that list. And I wanted to do that with your help.

Read the full story on CNN.com.

Early voting numbers are up in Hawaii

More evidence Hawaii doesn’t have to finish last in voting: 

• In 2008, 175,526 people voted early in Hawaii.
• This year, about 180,000 people have done the same (so far).

These numbers are from Rex Quidilla in the state’s election office. They include early walk-in voting and absentee ballots that had been received as of Monday morning in Hawaii. ”We just hope people come out to vote tomorrow,” he said. CNN’s Change the List certainly hopes for the same. If all went as it did in 2008, Hawaii would need 11,466 more votes to hop off the bottom of the national list for voter turnout. You can do it, Hawaii.

You convinced them to vote

Your thoughtful messages (find 47 of them here) convinced three of these nonvoters in Hawaii to vote on Tuesday, two of them for the first time. One of them, Michael Remen, said he decided to vote because of a single message, sent from a total stranger on the Internet. This was part of CNN’s Change the List. We’re trying to boost voter participation in Hawaii, the state with the lowest turnout. Many, many thanks to all who sent in messages.

Read the full story on CNN.com.