By their very name, special elections are unusual occurrences. But to Hawaii voters they’re not all that uncommon.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), who announced Friday that he’s resigning early to concentrate on his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, initially came to the House by way of a 1986 special election that produced a bizarre outcome.

Then-Rep. Cecil Heftel (D) resigned his 1st district House seat in mid-July to run for governor, as Hawaii law then required. That spawned a special election on the same date as the regular September primary.