Polling places in seven Florida counties were moved to alternate buildings today (Tuesday) after heavy rain and flooding blocked roads and damaged voting sites on U.S. midterm election day. Just 45 minutes before polls opened at 7 a.m., Florida’s Secretary of State office announced that at least 19 polling locations had been relocated, including in Palm Beach, Broward, and St. Lucie counties. Voters whose polling place was moved were required to vote at the new designated location, and according to Time magazine, in some cases several polling districts were consolidated into a single building that remained open. Palm Beach election officials said they sent residents emails and text messages, and posted signs at the old buildings directing voters to the new addresses.
1+The move was made possible after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an emergency order Monday night for seven counties, following a low-pressure system that brought heavy rain to the state’s east coast since last weekend. The order allows local election supervisors to designate new polling places instead of sites deemed unsafe or inaccessible due to flooded roads. According to NBC, some areas received close to half a meter of rain in a single day, and footage released by Fox News showed vehicles stuck in water on a major highway in Broward County. “For the safety of poll workers and voters, it is necessary to relocate some polling places due to the unprecedented circumstances,” said county elections supervisor Tim Bobenic in a press statement.
Florida wasn’t the only state where weather disrupted voting. The Cimarron County Election Board in Oklahoma announced that the polling place in the town of Keyes was moved to the town hall after a severe storm damaged the community center that served as the voting site. According to NBC, county election officials noted in an emergency request that the building sustained significant structural damage and was unsafe for use. Fox News also reported that a state of emergency was declared in Utah and Colorado following flooding along the San Juan River, leading to changes in polling locations and special arrangements in both states. U.S. forecasters warned that the storm system continues moving east, and flooding could also affect Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
1+The midterm elections will determine who controls Congress in the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term, and according to Time magazine, more than 58 million Americans voted early before polls opened. The U.S. Justice Department announced it deployed about a thousand monitors across all 50 states. In Florida itself, a race for governor is underway, and Republican candidate Byron Donalds called on residents in affected areas: “Above all, stay safe.” Florida State University political science professor Brad Gomez told NBC that according to his research, for every inch of rain above average in a county, voter turnout drops by nearly one percentage point.