Final 3 council races decided: Enriquez, Rodenhurst, Aki emerge victorious

Despite three tight races in the Hawaii County Council general election runoffs on Tuesday, none was close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

According to County Clerk Jon Henricks, the state’s automatic recount law comes into effect in a race when the final margin between the two candidates is 100 votes or fewer, or less than 0.5% difference of valid votes cast, “whichever is smaller.”

In Council Districts 4 and 6, the two tightest races, the 0.5% difference that would trigger a recount would amount to 32 votes or fewer in both races.

In Council District 4 in Puna, Lloyd Enriquez, the safety director at Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science, a Pahoa public charter school, defeated Eileen O’Hara, a former Council member who teaches economics at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, 3,259 votes to 3,170 votes, or 50.7% to 49.3%. He’ll succeed Ashley Kierkiewicz, who served the maximum four consecutive two-year terms on the Council.

Enriquez told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald on Wednesday that traffic congestion during peak hours on Highways 11 and 130 in Puna is the top issue, and he’ll look into measures to alleviate that traffic — including staggered start and ending times for schools and ensuring buses aren’t arriving at schools empty or half-empty.

“I’d like to take a look at the bus contract,” Enriquez said, referring to the agreement between the state Department of Education and Ground Transport Inc., which provides bus service to the Hilo-Waiakea and Keaau-Pahoa-Kau school complex areas.

O’Hara said she called Enriquez on Wednesday morning to congratulate him. She led the race after the first two printouts of election results were released at about 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday, but came up short when the final tally was released at about 5 a.m. Wednesday.

“There was 1,024 votes that were added to the race between the second and the final readout. I’ve never seen that big of a last-minute surge. And why wasn’t it in the second readout, which said it had all the mail ballots?”

Henricks told the Tribune-Herald a large influx of vote-by-mail ballots deposited Tuesday before 7 p.m. at nine drop boxes islandwide was responsible for the last-minute wave of votes that propelled Enriquez past O’Hara.

“There was a surge of voting, with people dropping their vote-by-mail packets into our drop boxes around the island,” Henricks said. “When they’re brought back here, we have to go through the process of validating those mail ballots. There was a lot of ballots that came in.”

Henricks said many voters waited until election day to cast their ballots.

In Council District 5 in Puna, Ikaika Rodenhurst, an engineer and former county Public Works director, defeated Shannon Matson, 3,166 votes to 2,659 votes, or 54.4% to 45.6%. He’ll succeed Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder who, after serving the maximum four consecutive terms on the Council, lost the Democratic primary election in August for state House District 5 to incumbent Rep. Jeanne Kapela.

“I am humbled and extremely grateful to my team, my supporters and volunteers,” said Matson, a legislative assistant to Hilo Council member Jenn Kagiwada. “I’m very proud of the work we’ve done and the campaign that we’ve run and looking forward to serving my community however we can.”

In Council District 6, Zed Kaapana Aki won over Guy Enriques, a career volleyball coach and founder/director of Guy Enriques Team Camp, 3,294 votes to 3,238 votes, or 50.4% to 49.6%. He’ll succeed Michelle Galimba, who chose not to seek a second term representing Kau.

Calling it “a really, really close race,” Enriques said he is “fine with the results.”

“What I’m feeling this morning is a little bit lighter shoulders, not having to worry about what’s going to be facing the new councilman,” he said. “I called him this morning, told him good luck and congratulations, and I’m ready to move on.”

A fourth new face who already has punched her ticket for a seat on the Council is Manu Powers. In August’s primary election, the Kona businessperson topped challengers Edgar “Eddie O” Ombac, a radio personality, and Mark Henriques in District 7, where Rebecca Villegas served the maximum four consecutive terms.

Incumbents who won their Council seats outright in the August primary elections by getting at least 50% plus one vote include: Heather Kimball, who ousted Ren Del Rosario and BJ Penn in District 1; Kagiwada, who outpaced Wendy Botelho, JoNelle Fukushima, Blaine Kenji Bautista and William Halverson in District 2; Dennis Onishi, who defeated Kelton Chang in District 3; Holeka Inaba, who ran unopposed in his District 8 race; and James Hustace, who was unopposed in District 9.

Henricks called general election day “a very fruitful day for us.”

“We had a big surge from where we were at on Monday evening to where we ended up at 7 p.m. on Tuesday,” he said. “A lot of our votes came in during that time frame at the voter service centers, but even more so at our drop boxes. And it’s a good thing.

“We want people to vote. We go through all this expense and a lot of work to present the opportunities for people to vote.”

The Tribune-Herald reached out to Rodenhurst and Aki for comment, but they didn’t reply in time for this story.