Less than two weeks before Hawai'i's general election, the state faces another shortage of poll workers — especially in some Honolulu neighborhoods.

But the shortage is smaller than it was before the previous election, and officials are optimistic that polling places will function smoothly on Nov. 7.

"We're doing much better," said state voter services coordinator Rex Quidilla. "We're much closer to our goal of 100 percent staffing."

About 400 more poll workers are needed, but Quidilla stressed that all the supervisory positions of precinct chair have been filled.

The shortage is most acute in six O'ahu neighborhoods that have less than half as many workers as needed: 'Aina Haina, Hawai'i Kai, Kaimuki, Makiki, Manoa and Moanalua. Each neighborhood includes several polling places.

"We're asking people who live in those areas to please consider helping your community with the electoral process on election day," Quidilla said.

Workers may be hired from outside the areas if necessary, or polling places may have to operate understaffed, he said.

The state was short by 900 workers 10 days before the Sept. 23 primary election, though many of those positions were later filled.

Quidilla said the state Office of Elections is attempting to recruit more workers through service organizations and other groups.

General poll workers, known as precinct officials, earn $85 for the day. Voter assistance officials, who have more extensive duties, earn $100. The state needs approximately 3,500 poll workers total on election day.

"A precinct may be able to operate without full staffing, but there may be some issues of delays," Quidilla said. "But the key is to ensure that the polling places have supervisory staff to open and close the precinct to avoid any substantial disruption on election day."

A similar shortage was one of the problems that led to voting and counting delays in the primary. The situation was exacerbated when some scheduled workers did not show up for the one-day jobs, causing a few polling places to open late and forcing some workers to take over duties they had not been fully trained for.

"We've reiterated the importance to the chairs, and people we've recruited, that we need them on Election Day," Quidilla said. "It's absolutely critical. They play a very important role. Sometimes these absences are unavoidable, but there were some notable exceptions."

The primary was held on a Saturday, but the general election will be on a Tuesday — meaning many voters will cast ballots before or after work.

"The flow of voters usually comes in waves, and it's absolutely critical that the polling places open in the morning," Quidilla said.

Everyone who's in line at 6 p.m. will be allowed to vote, but a long line could mean that a polling place closes late, and that will delay the release of initial voting results.

The first results were late Sept. 23 because a few precinct chairs did not call the Office of Elections to confirm that they had closed their polling places at the end of the day. State law requires that all precincts close before any results are announced, and Quidilla said precinct chairs will be reminded to call in after they close on Nov. 7.

Results reflected in that first count are preliminary, but they are significant and are eagerly anticipated. The count includes most of the absentee votes that were cast before election day — more than a third of the total cast in the primary election, and likely a similar-sized chunk on Nov. 7.

A company that supplies electronic voting machines to the state and verifies poll results said it is confident that some other problems won't happen again.

The second round of primary results was delayed because of difficulties compiling data to show the voter turnout percentage for each political party, according to Neil McClure, vice president of Hart InterCivic.

Results for general elections don't include those details, so there won't be similar problems on Nov. 7, he said.

"We're very confident," McClure said. "We had great success in 2004 doing this, and we expect to repeat that performance with timely results, as expected by the public. We understand the urgency, but we're faced with ensuring the accuracy as well, and that's one thing we won't jeopardize."

He stressed that the company has no control over the time polls close, or how soon precincts make data available to the counting center at the state Capitol, however.

"There's a lot of action going on down there on election night, so we just need to make sure we have a well-defined process, and we're spending the time to make sure that everybody understands what it is," McClure said.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.