Candidates for the Honolulu City Council seat representing Kailua, Kane'ohe and Waimanalo would have until March 9 to file their nomination papers, under a proposed timetable for a special election that's likely to be approved by the council today.

The special election to fill Barbara Marshall's former seat would be conducted primarily as a vote-by-mail election. Marshall died Sunday from cancer.

Under a schedule announced yesterday, the city will mail out ballots to District 3 voters on or about April 3. The deadline for ballots to be returned to the city clerk will be April 23. The winner of the election is expected to be announced that evening.

No polling places will be open on April 23. However, walk-in voting sites are expected to be available from April 6 through April 21.

The estimated cost of the special election is about $250,000. The term runs until January 2013.

Key issues for the district include bed-and-breakfast regulation, property taxes, Honolulu's planned $5.4 billion commuter rail and the continued use of the Waimanalo Gulch landfill.

Marshall, 64, died in Orange County, Calif., Sunday morning on her way home from treatment at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The native of Berwyn, Ill., was first elected to the council in 2002. She previously was a reporter for KHON-TV from 1979 to 2000.