Nearly 7,000 more Hawai'i voters registered to cast ballots in the Nov. 7 election, bringing the total to more than 662,000.

That's one of the state's highest registration counts ever but remains well below the high point of 2002, when more than 676,000 voters were signed up for that year's general election.

Voter registration normally increases between every primary and general election, but it was not expected to go up remarkably after this year's Sept. 23 primary.

"It's not as dramatic as we'd like to see, because this is a 'midterm' election," said Honolulu City Clerk Denise DeCosta. "It would go up a lot more if it was a presidential election year, when people are more excited and interested."

Still, this election is important, with more than 100 federal, state and county offices at stake.

The race between incumbent Republican Gov. Linda Lingle and Democratic challenger Randall Iwase is drawing more attention, though Lingle is widely seen as the likely winner.

Democratic former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and Republican state Sen. Bob Hogue are facing off for the U.S. House seat that Rep. Ed Case is leaving after his unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka.

Akaka will face Republican state Rep. Cynthia Thielen, who was named to replace winning GOP primary candidate Jerry Coffee after he bowed out of the race for health reasons.

The questions now is: How many voters will actually cast ballots? Hawai'i has consistently had one of the nation's lowest voter turnout rates for the past decade, and interest in this election has been limited so far.

Only four out of 10 registered voters participated in this year's primary, but that was a higher turnout than for any Hawai'i primary since 1998, state election records show.

More than six out of 10 registered voters cast ballots in the 2004 general election, the highest participation rate since 1998, when Democratic former Gov. Ben Cayetano fended off Lingle's first campaign for governor.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.