Polls opened in North Carolina on October 17, 2024, as about 14,000 people in Asheville and surrounding areas remained without power in their homes after Hurricane Helen. In Florida, which began early voting in some counties on October 21, about 400,000 residents are still without power after Hurricane Milton.
Some experts said hurricanes could cause voter turnouts to drop — and the effects of Hurricane Helen have already closed a few early polling places in western North Carolina. But more North Carolinians turned out to vote on the first day of early voting than in 2020.
Amy Lieberman, politics and society editor at The Conversation US, spoke with Michael T. Morley, who studies natural disasters and election law, to understand how these recent storms could complicate voting in presidential elections.
A home on Manasota Key, Florida, damaged by Hurricane Milton, seen on October 13, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images What major issues can hurricanes create before the election?
A hurricane or natural disaster makes elections significantly more difficult for both election officials and voters at various practical levels.
Election officials may be injured, or their homes may be flooded or destroyed. State officials need to ensure, especially in the hardest-hit areas, that enough local officials remain in place to continue distributing absentee ballots and staffing early voting sites.
However, I have seen no empirical evidence that the results of any federal elections in recent decades have changed as a result of hurricanes.
What could these major hurricanes mean for voters in North Carolina and Florida?
Florida has one of the most comprehensive laws to deal with election emergencies of this type because it faces them so frequently.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order on October 3, 2024 in response to Hurricane Helen. Among other things, Florida law provides that in an emergency the governor can suspend state laws or regulations governing state actions when compliance with them would interfere with disaster response.
Florida, like other states, has deadlines by which election officials must designate polling locations. DeSantis waived that deadline to allow county officials to appoint new administrators. DeSantis’ order also gives election officials more discretion over where to locate new polling sites. It made it easier for state employees to intervene and work as poll workers, especially on Election Day.
DeSantis suspended the state requirement so that someone who cannot return home can request by phone to have a ballot mailed to where they reside — not just their registered home address. Making it easier to send ballots to people, wherever they are, is one of the most effective measures Florida has implemented to help make voting easier.
Meanwhile, state officials in North Carolina have authorized various changes that will apply to the 25 counties in the western part of the state that are under hurricane emergency orders. These changes focus mostly on mail-in voting and poll workers. It also allows county boards of elections to change voting locations on Election Day and allows voters to drop off absentee ballots at any county board of elections office by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
Voters in Western North Carolina also now have until Nov. 4 to request a mail-in ballot, as opposed to the original Oct. 29 deadline.
Overall, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper approved $5 million to the State Board of Elections to make it easier for residents of western North Carolina to vote.
What kind of legal issues, if any, do these changes open up?
Controversies have already arisen over the possible extension of voter registration deadlines in states affected by Hurricanes Helen and Milton. Courts in Florida and Georgia have already denied emergency requests to extend the voter registration deadline.
In contrast, a South Carolina court ruled in October to extend the deadline for an additional 10 days.
Similar disputes are likely to arise over election rules such as photo identification requirements at polling places and deadlines for requesting and returning absentee ballots.
Sometimes, challenges also arise that claim that some measures to address the emergency have gone too far.
During the height of the pandemic, for example, Trump’s presidential campaign filed lawsuits unsuccessfully challenging state decisions to automatically mail absentee ballots to people registered to vote.
A US post office, damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Helen, is pictured on October 3, 2024, in Marshall, North Carolina, showing one of the complications faced by people who planned to vote by mail. Mario Tama/Getty Images What are you most worried about heading into the election?
My biggest concern is that, especially if the election is close, the losing candidate might try to use the hurricane as a way to try to challenge or question the election results.
The courts will certainly reject this. Once an election is held, a court generally will not overturn the results or order additional voting, even if voters face significant burdens and people believe there is more election officials could have done. This is especially true in the context of presidential elections, where the U.S. Constitution and federal law set several important post-election deadlines related to the Electoral College.
Some people already have unwarranted doubts about the electoral process. It would be bad for our democracy if the recent hurricanes were used as a basis for refusing to accept the election results.
