O'ahu's neighborhood boards will not be able to fill any vacancies on their panels caused by a lack of candidates in the last board election, according to a city attorney's oral opinion.

Some neighborhood board chairmen are worried that the vacancies could hinder how they function.

Of the 445 seats up for grabs on the city's 33 boards this spring, 82 seats — more than 18 percent — had no candidates.

The Neighborhood Commission Office is working to try to resolve the situation by having the commission pass an amendment to the law, which would take about three months, but it is downplaying the impact it could have on the boards.

The Neighborhood Commission will hold a special meeting to discuss the issue at 7 tonight in the second-floor committee meeting room of Honolulu Hale.

For years, boards have been able to fill vacancies by electing new members during their regular meetings. They'll still be able to do that for midterm vacancies, but they're out of luck if they want to fill seats left vacant after the election.

Some neighborhood board members say the situation could be problematic for those boards that historically have a large percentage of vacancies because they may have a harder time reaching quorum for meetings or consensus when it comes time to vote on issues.

The Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board was only able to fill 12 of 19 eligible seats in its last election.

Reaching a quorum for that board requires 10 members present, so more than two absences would mean the remaining members couldn't convene a meeting, board chairwoman Bernie Young said.

Neighborhood Commission Executive Director Joan Manke said the oral opinion issued by the Honolulu corporation counsel's office does allow for the commission to fill vacancies on boards if they are below quorum or if midterm vacancies interfere with the ability of a board to conduct its business.

"This won't impact the board's ability to operate," Manke said in a statement. "The most obvious effect would be that boards will need more agreement amongst the sitting members to get something passed — since quorum calculations will include those unfilled seats."

But Lynne Matusow, a longtime member of the Downtown Neighborhood Board, said that's a real problem.

"We have several boards which are either at quorum or one or two over, which means if not enough members show up, they won't have quorum, so they can't conduct business," Matusow said.

Manoa Neighborhood Board Chairman Tom Heinrich said if the boards can't retain quorum, or can barely do so, it's harder for them to take actions.

The interpretation by the corporation counsel's office comes at a time when interest in neighborhood boards appears to be waning. Only 6.5 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

Neighborhood Commission members blamed the low turnout on the public's unfamiliarity with the country's first all-electronic voting process.