Two sites have been designated where voters can drop off their ballots Saturday in the all-mail election for the vacant 1st Congressional District seat.

Starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, state Office of Elections personnel will accept ballots in front of the Father Damien statue at the state Capitol on Beretania Street.

Voters also can go to the Office of Elections headquarters at 802 Lehua Ave. in Pearl City, also starting at 8 a.m.

Both sites will close promptly at 6 p.m. No ballots will be accepted after that.

Mailed ballots that reach the elections agency by Saturday also will be accepted. But ballots that arrive after Saturday, even if postmarked by Saturday, will be considered invalid.

Meanwhile, elections officials have begun scanning ballots returned by voters.

The work, being conducted by about two dozen state Office of Elections workers and seasonal employees at the state Capitol, began yesterday.

The ballots are being run through a machine that creates an electronic image of each ballot.

On Saturday evening, those images will be electronically scanned and their votes quickly tabulated.

Results are expected soon after 6 p.m.

The special election is being held to fill the seat vacated by Neil Abercrombie, who has launched a campaign for the governor's seat.

Polls show Republican city councilman Charles Djou leading former U.S. Rep. Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, both Democrats.

The winner serves the remainder of Abercrombie's term and will have to run again in November.