A Thursday deadline is looming for counties to mail absentee ballots to voters. Early voting begins on Oct. 24.
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This article is part of our Midterms 2022 Daily Briefing
Hurricane Ian left behind debris and destruction at Fort Myers Beach in Lee County, Fla., on Sunday.
In North Port, Fla., a tarpaulin covered the roof of a waterlogged county election office as the midterm elections entered the final stretch.
Farther south along Florida’s Gulf Coast, where the brunt of Hurricane Ian was particularly deadly, officials in Lee County asked the governor to authorize the creation of “super polling” centers to serve displaced voters from precincts ravaged by the storm.
And in the city of Sarasota, as the state’s deadline for mailing absentee ballots to voters loomed less than 72 hours away, the whoosh of dehumidifiers muffled the conversations of election workers.
“I’m sitting in the middle of formerly wet ceiling tiles,” Ron Turner, supervisor of elections for Sarasota County, said in an interview on Monday afternoon.
Still, Mr. Turner emphasized, “we’re lucky compared to our neighbors to the south.”
Nearly a week after Hurricane Ian slammed into southwestern Florida, election officials for the counties in the storm’s path said that they were still assessing the damage to early voting sites and Election Day precincts but expected that many would not be available. Early voting begins on Oct. 24 in Florida.
Those officials said that they still expected that counties would meet a Thursday deadline to mail absentee ballots.
Election officials nationwide have been grappling with threats, misinformation and the pressure of handling higher numbers of mail-in ballots during the pandemic. Now, some in Florida also have to function with hurricane damage.
The Aftermath of Hurricane Ian
- The Search for Survivors: In the wake of Hurricane Ian, a search-and-rescue team in Fort Myers Beach set out to knock on every door that was still standing on the battered Florida island.
- A Delayed Evacuation: Despite warnings from forecasters before Ian made landfall, officials in Lee County, Florida, delayed issuing an evacuation order. The delay may have contributed to catastrophic consequences that are still coming into focus.
- Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor, who as a congressman opposed aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy, is seeking relief from the Biden administration as his state confronts the devastation wrought by Ian.
- Lack of Insurance: In the Florida counties hit hardest by Ian, fewer than 20 percent of homes had flood insurance, new data show. Experts say that will make rebuilding even harder.
“For many voters, their regular polling location will not be available,” Tommy Doyle, supervisor of elections in Lee County, said in a message posted on Monday on the county’s website.
Hurricane Ian hit Florida on Sept. 28, one day before a seven-day window for counties to send mail-in ballots to domestic voters. The period ends on Thursday.
ImageWorking to restore power to residences in Matlacha, Fla., on Monday.Credit…Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 400,000 utility customers in Florida still did not have power, with a vast majority concentrated in the southwestern part of the state, according to poweroutage.us, a tracking website.
More than half were in Lee County, where the authorities said that at least 55 people had died since the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.
Election officials in Lee County said that the loss of power and disruptions to cellphone service were hampering their damage assessments.
“We want voters to be confident that we are working hard to ensure they can safely, securely and efficiently cast their ballots in the upcoming election,” Mr. Doyle said in his message.
Gaby Aguirre, a spokeswoman for the Lee County Elections Office, said in an email on Tuesday that the county had requested an emergency order from Gov. Ron DeSantis granting it the ability to create “super polling” centers.
A similar order was signed after Hurricane Michael in 2018, when the governor at the time, Rick Scott, who is now a U.S. senator, relaxed voting rules in eight counties along the Panhandle.
Ms. Aguirre said on Tuesday that the vendor Lee County used for absentee ballots was “up and running” and “working diligently” to meet Thursday’s deadline to mail ballots.
A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis on Monday referred questions about election preparations to Cord Byrd, Florida’s secretary of state, who said in a statement that he was still assessing the situation and that his primary concern was the well-being of residents.
“We are considering all contingencies at the moment and will be in continual contact with supervisors of elections to evaluate the conditions of the affected counties moving forward,” Mr. Byrd said on Monday.
In response to the hurricane, Mr. Byrd had issued an emergency order earlier that suspended the filing deadline for campaign finance reports until Friday.
Mark S. Earley, the president of the statewide association of election supervisors, said in a statement on Monday that disruptions to in-person voting sites appeared to be a significant concern.
“Voting machines, supplies and staff are all safe and sound, it appears,” said Mr. Earley, a top election official in Leon County, which was outside the hurricane’s direct path. “Some offices are still without power, but they are intact. That cannot be said for many of the other structures that are integral to in-person voting, such as early voting and Election Day polling sites. Thousands of voters, first responders and poll workers are displaced.”
He added that he expected “at least a few counties” to be allowed to use the “super polling” centers in lieu of regular Election Day polling places.
In Collier County, which is south of Lee County, Jennifer J. Edwards, the election supervisor, said in an interview on Monday that the county’s 11 early-voting locations and her office were unscathed.
“It’s high and dry,” Ms. Edwards said, noting that the county was still assessing conditions at Election Day precincts.
While some other counties were clambering to restore power so they could mail ballots by Thursday’s deadline, Collier County uses a vendor in the Orlando area, far north of hurricane-ravaged areas, that transported printed ballots to the U.S. Postal Service on Friday, Ms. Edwards said. Those ballots are expected to start being delivered this week, she said.
ImageSurveying the damage at a home in Naples in Collier County on Sunday.Credit…Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times
“If someone’s home has been destroyed and the U.S.P.S. is unable to deliver to that home, they will take the mail for that resident’s address back to the post office and keep it for 10 days,” Ms. Edwards said.
Mr. Turner said that Sarasota County was expecting 120,000 ballots to be mailed on Tuesday to voters.
“We faced challenges in the last few years in the pandemic,” he said. “We will get through this and make sure that the voters have an opportunity to make sure their voices are heard at the ballot box.”
Mitch Smith contributed reporting.
Source: nytimes.com
