New ballots that were confusing to some voters, technical glitches and a few poll locations that were late to open were among the glitches reported for today's primary election.

For example, at the Mililani High School cafeteria, early voters who wanted to cast ballots using an electronic voting machine were disappointed when the device didn't work due to technical difficulties.

"One of the cords wasn't working," said May Fujii Foo, precinct chairwoman. "It was out for the first two hours. The trouble-shooter came to fix it, and to reprogram it. It's working fine now.

"But then, we haven't had too many people ask to use the electronic machine," Foo said.

The older they get, the more they want papers.

Otherwise, Foo said the only problem was birds flying through the open doors and fluttering around the cafeteria. She said she was relatively certain none of the birds were registered in the district.

She said there had been a steady stream of voters during the morning — about 150 total voters at the cafeteria during the first three hours.

Next door, at a second polling place at the high school, in the gymnasium, things were going well, said precinct chairman Clark Dorman.

"Everything's been real smooth," Dorman said.

He said more than 300 voters cast ballots between 6 and 11 a.m.

The state Office of Elections for the first time this year is asking voters to choose either a Democratic or a Republican party ballot, and some voters said that was causing a bit of confusion.

Mililani resident Dave Rolf voted early today at Mililani Uka Elementary School and said the ballots may be confusing to more voters than in the past.

This year's ballots include a square box that must be filled in instead of the oval used on past ballots.

Rolf said he expects a greater number of spoiled ballots will be cast this year if voters just put an "X" or a check mark in the box instead of filling it in.

In addition, ballot instructions are printed at the bottom of the ballot instead of the top, Rolf said.

And poll workers seemed to be having trouble tearing away portions of the ballot cleanly, he said.

Some voters seemed to be confused at having to choose a political party, believing if they did so, they would not be able to cast a ballot in the Honolulu mayor's race, which is not partisan.

That is not the case, however, said Rex Quidilla, spokesman for the state Office of Elections.

If a voter wants to cast a ballot for a candidate in a race in which political parties are involved, the voter may do so and is still able to vote in the mayor's race as well, Quidilla said.

A few polls were slow to open.

Voter Dave Glaspell reported the polling place at Kuhio Elementary School had not yet opened as of 7:20 a.m. although all polls were supposed to have opened at 7 a.m. and remain open until 6 p.m. tonight.

"The poll workers are all here, but they don't have all of the supplies, and the chairman is not here," Glaspell said.

"They told me a troubleshooter is on the way. I plan to stay here until I get to vote," said Glaspell, who arrived at the school about 6:30 a.m.

The Kuhio School polling place eventually opened just before 8 a.m.. Glaspell said.

Quidilla, of the Office of Elections, said a number of polls had "typical start-up issues."

Quidilla later said that voting also got off to a bit of a late start at Pauoa Elementary School, where the precinct chairperson became ill, and at Lincoln Elementary School, where there were "staffing issues."

Quidilla could not say by what time all of the polling places across the state were up and running.

"That's something we will figure out post-election," he said.

There were other glitches typical of any primary election.

Officials from state House District 44, Precinct 1, in Honokai Hale, for example, arrived to find campaign signs posted within 200 feet of the Kamokila Park Recreation Center, which is against the law.

While they were taking those down, they noticed a person with no known local address sleeping in the grass next to the polling place.

"We had to call the cops when he got in (precinct worker) Dean Toyama's car," said Precinct Chairman Peter Elson. "He wanted Dean to give him a ride to Nanakuli."

Toyama told the man he had to work, Elson said, adding that the man was not allowed to vote because he is from a different district.

Elson said early turnout was less than he had expected, with 20 voters in the first hour.

"It's slow. I know the mayor's race is bringing a lot of people in, but I thought we'd have more voters early. It's Saturday, so that should pick up," he said.

The race for a state House seat in the 44th District and the mayor's race are contested, but the others are not, Elson said.

Other polling sites also reported sparse turnout.

There were no lines. And, at some polling places, there weren't even voters for short stretches of time.

Judith Limtiaco was startled by the sparse number of voters she found at District 38, Precinct 4, at the Mililani High School cafeteria.

"Where is everybody?" said Limtiaco about 11:15 a.m. "I'm distressed that there is hardly anybody here. This is awful. I hope it's not this way in the general election."

Voters were also few and far between at Farrington High School, although precinct chairwoman Sandra Mactagone said there had been a little more than 200 voters as of 2:03 p.m. Three voters were on hand to cast ballots as of 2:15 p.m.