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Forbes
Forbes
10 Oct 2024


Voters in states affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton have gone to court in recent days to try and extend voter registration deadlines in light of the natural disasters—which has been met with mixed success—as the hurricanes have become a voting access issue in some of the most tightly contested states in next month’s presidential election.

Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene damage Florida

A tattered American flag flaps outside a home damaged by Hurricane Helene in Holmes Beach on Anna ... [+] Maria Island, Fla., on Oct. 8.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida Wednesday night as states across the South are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which brought widespread impacts to states including North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.

Georgia: Civil rights groups sued the swing state on Monday in a bid to reopen voter registration, which ended on Monday, and the court will hold a hearing Thursday on the issue after a judge said Wednesday the groups needed to show more evidence that the hurricane blocked people from registering.

Florida: A federal judge on Wednesday shot down an effort to reopen voter registration in the state, after the deadline passed Monday amid preparations for Hurricane Milton, as voting rights groups went to court when Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to extend the deadline.

South Carolina: A judge extended the state’s voter registration deadline by 10 days due to Hurricane Helene, to Oct. 14, after the South Carolina Democratic Party sued to keep registration open.

North Carolina: The key swing state imposed emergency voting measures in response to Helene, but did not need to change its voter registration deadline since it has same-day registration during early voting through Nov. 2.

Tennessee: The state’s voter registration date passed on Monday without a lawsuit being brought over Hurricane Helene damage.

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A number of states have had to make modifications to their voting plans in response to damage from Hurricane Helene. North Carolina’s election board imposed a number of emergency measures to make it easier for voters in affected counties to cast a ballot, such as making it easier to change early polling sites and hours, allowing voters to vote at board of elections offices if they can’t get to their precinct and allowing voters to request absentee ballots in person through Nov. 4. Lawmakers in the state then passed a $273 million relief package on Wednesday that further expands those measures to even more counties. Tennessee moved some polling places and election office locations amid damage from Helene, and DeSantis passed an executive order for Florida counties affected by Helene that made rules around voting procedures—like moving polling places or requesting a ballot be sent to a different address—more flexible. (The governor has not yet passed any measures regarding areas affected by Hurricane Milton.) In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said after Helene all the “physical infrastructure” needed to operate the state’s election would be “fully operational” by the time early voting starts, and while the state launched a webpage for any precinct changes as a result of the hurricane, none have yet been announced.

If or how the hurricanes will impact the November election. While election administrators are working to ensure the disasters do not impact access to voting, Election Day will come as voters across the South are focused on rebuilding their homes or still displaced by the storms. It remains to be seen what impact the ongoing fallout could have on voter turnout as a result. A majority of voters in counties now suffering damage from Hurricane Helene supported former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, NPR reports, which includes voters in the key battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina—though there are exceptions, with left-leaning areas like Asheville, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, also impacted by the storm. Trump has been trying to politicize the hurricanes and spread falsehoods about Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration’s response, falsely claiming FEMA is running out of money because the administration gave money to migrants instead. (The funds being used for disaster relief are completely separate from those being used to support migrant communities.) It’s still unclear what kind of impact those lies could have, as other figures on the right have spread misinformation about the hurricane, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., falsely claiming “they” can control the weather.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in late September and brought widespread devastation throughout the South, affecting states including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee and leading to more than 200 fatalities. Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday, only weeks later, making landfall in Sarasota before traveling through central Florida and going out to sea from the state’s east coast. The storm also spurred tornadoes throughout Florida that have so far led to four fatalities. Damage is still being assessed from the latest hurricane and three million homes and businesses are still without power as of Thursday morning, though DeSantis said Thursday the state avoided the “worst case scenario” in terms of damage from the storm.