HONOLULU -- Hawaii's teachers will have to wait until next week to find out whether a controversial new contract that would require random drug tests has passed.

The public school teachers voted on Thursday, with results expected late in the evening. But the Hawaii State Teachers Association announced that it would wait until the approximately 1,900 absentee ballots are turned in and counted.

About 60 percent of the teachers voted Thursday, and the vote was close Thursday night, according to HSTA President Roger Takabayashi.

"We thought it would be higher considering the controversy of this outcome," he said.

Teachers who did vote Thursday expressed their thoughts on the drug testing piece of the contract.

"If they're going to reward us, they need to reward us for being good teachers. And not attach something like that," said Chris Neppl, a teacher at Central Middle School.

"I'm all for it," said math teacher John Furukawa. "As an educator, we need to promote an example to which kids can follow."

Many teachers expressed concern about funding the drug tests.

The HSTA said that Gov. Linda Lingle's administration assured the union the drug tests would be funded by the state and not the Department of Education.

The union said HSTA members have until next Wednesday to submit their absentee ballots.

The deadline is one day before the Legislature is slated to adjourn.