Election day on Hawaii’s Big Island: A historic eruption of democracy

Election day on Hawaii’s Big Island is more than just an eruption of democracy.

Lava from Kilauea, one of the more active volcanoes in the world, is threatening to split the small town of Pahoa in two. Members of the Hawaii National Guard, in full camouflage and driving Humvees, are stationed at roadblocks separating soon-to-be victims from disaster, like the woman who dipped an egg beater into the lava last week, just because.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat, is up for reelection and is also an officer in the National Guard. She was expected to report for volcano duty in Pahoa on Tuesday. On the plus side, a spokeswoman in her Washington, D.C., office told The Times, the candidate-congresswoman-captain voted early.

“She won’t be Rep. Gabbard, she’ll be Capt. Gabbard, and she will be doing duties commensurate with her position and her training,” Hawaii National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Charles Anthony told the Hawaii Tribune Herald.

“She had a lot of experience in Kuwait knowing how to police a very large area with limited resources,” Anthony said, “which is kind of what we’re looking at in Pahoa, too.”

Among the affected sites in the lava-threatened town of about 950 is Keonepoko Elementary School. In the interest of safety, the school has been closed and its students transferred.

But lava is slow and voting is fast, so Keonepoko Elementary was open Tuesday morning in its alternate role -- polling place.

Dee Adkins, whose grandchildren attended the school before it was closed, was on campus at 7 a.m. to cast her ballot on the way to her job at a Hilo long-term care facility.

“After I left, I’m driving down the road and doing my usual rosary,” Adkins said. Then she burst into tears. “I realized it was probably my last time there to vote if it happens.”

“It” being devastation by molten rock, which is poised to destroy homes and businesses and cleave the village in half.

The enormity of her town’s potential loss “pushed me over the edge this morning,” Adkins said, as she composed herself over coffee in Hilo before heading on to work. “If the lava continues to go to the ocean, we won’t be able to go to church and work in Hilo both. You’ll have to choose.”

Twitter: @marialaganga