“Biblical Devastation”
On September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida and swept through the Southeast United States. The estimated death toll is currently at least 213 people with many others still unaccounted for, making Helene “one of the deadliest hurricanes in the United States, at least since the emergence of modern weather forecasting.” Windspeeds hit 140 miles per hour, with storm surges along areas of the Florida coast exceeding fifteen feet. Approximately five-and-a-half million customers lost power during the disaster, with almost 700,000 still waiting to have service restored. States of emergency were declared in 61 out of Florida’s 67 counties, as well as throughout the entire states of Georgia and North Carolina.
The storm inundated and, in some cases, wiped out numerous communities. Ninety percent of the homes in Keaton Beach, Florida, have been “washed away.” Much of Cedar Key, Florida was similarly flooded, with many residences destroyed. Areas of Asheville, North Carolina were almost completely underwater, suffering what one resident termed a “mini-apocalypse.” The village of Chimney Rock suffered almost “total devastation,” its central business district “100% destroyed.” Several highways have been rendered unusable by floods, collapsed trees, and mudslides, while some bridges simply collapsed. Roads throughout Western North Carolina remain closed to all traffic except for emergency vehicles. Many areas have been left without cell phone service or safe drinking water. Moody’s has estimated the storm caused between $15-26 billion in property damage.
This devastation occurred less than six weeks before the November 2024 election, creating tremendous new obstacles for both election officials and voters which threaten to impede turnout and potentially even impact the election’s outcome. Most basically, election officials themselves are among Helene’s victims. States’ chief election officers, state boards of election, and other administrators must ensure that additional workers are recruited to staff election offices, early voting sites, and/or polling locations where county and local officials have been dislocated or injured and are unable to work. Election officials in many states have already begun the process of identifying alternate sites for in-person voting in jurisdictions where early voting and Election Day polling locations have been destroyed or rendered inaccessible.
Additionally, election officials throughout the southeastern states must ensure voting machines, tabulators, printed ballots, and other voting equipment remain undamaged from the storm. In jurisdictions where logic and accuracy testing for electronic equipment has already been conducted, governors or election officials should exercise emergency authority—where it is available—to require such tests to be conducted again in any locations where floodwater, heavy wind, or other such hazards may have affected them.
Election officials must also ensure they have enough absentee ballots to meet increased demand as a result of the hurricane. Florida officials are likely already well-situated in this regard since between a quarter and a third of votes cast in the state’s federal elections are usually vote-by-mail ballots. In Georgia and North Carolina, in contrast, fewer than ten percent of votes are typically cast absentee. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 where absentee and mail ballots spiked to 43.1% of votes nationwide, usage in those states remained at 26.1% and 17.6%, respectively. Given the magnitude of Helene’s destruction, election officials in towns and counties where power and telecommunications remain spotty, roads are inaccessible, and many homes and buildings are destroyed should be prepared to have a majority of voters request absentee ballots. Even absentee ballots may not be a panacea, however, since mail service is currently suspended or delayed in some of the hardest-hit areas.
General State-of-Emergency Authority
As I have explored in prior work (here and here), states vary dramatically in terms of the extent to which their laws empower election officials to adequately respond to election emergencies such as hurricanes. The Governors of Florida and Georgia may suspend “any regulatory statute prescribing the procedures for conduct of state business” if “strict compliance” would impede “necessary action in coping with” a declared emergency. Fla. Stat. 252.36(6)(a). Ga. Code § 38-3-51(d)(1). North Carolina law, in contrast, appears to permit the Governor—with the concurrence of the Council of State—to “waive” only state regulations and local ordinances, rather than statutes, during such emergencies. ….
