LAUPAHOEHOE, Hawaii (AP) — Parents and employees at a Big Island school are voting on whether to seek charter school status in an effort to stave off closure.

Proponents say the best way to keep the state from closing Laupahoehoe High and Elementary School is to apply to convert to a public charter school.

They need a simple majority to allow the Laupahoehoe Alumni & Community Association to apply to the state for the conversion. The ballots are scheduled to be counted Wednesday.

Waning enrollment in recent years has led the Department of Education to place the school on its closure and consolidation list.

It also failed to maintain adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law two years in a row.

Department officials said a closure study could begin this spring.

HONOLULU (AP) — Former Congressman Ed Case is opening the headquarters of his campaign for a special congressional election in Hawaii.

Case and two other announced candidates are seeking to fill the remainder of Democrat Neil Abercrombie's congressional term.

Abercrombie has said he will resign on Feb. 28 to focus on his campaign for governor. The earliest an election can be held is May 1.

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa also is running for Abercrombie's 1st Congressional District seat. She and Case are Democrats. The only Republican in the race is Honolulu Councilman Charles Djou.

Case's office is near downtown Honolulu. He represented Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District from 2003 through 2006.

HONOLULU (AP) — Looking to cut government waste, the Hawaii Senate decided to take a whack at a target that's plentiful on the grounds of the Capitol: paper.

They wanted to slash the pointless paperwork, removing millions of sheets that ended up crowding lawmakers' desks or thrown into waste baskets. They sought to turn off heavy-duty copy machines that stuffed the briefcases of legislative aides and lobbyists alike at taxpayer expense.

Two years since the paperless project began, the Senate recently reported its first savings estimate: more than $1.2 million, nearly 8 million pages and the equivalent of more than 800 trees.

Before the project, paper was king at the Capitol, as it is in many legislatures nationwide.

That was all put to an end when Senate leadership issued an order: no more paper unless absolutely necessary.

Not everyone was pleased with the change. Lobbyists accustomed to receiving physical documents wanted to pay for paper copies instead of taking free CDs.