Hurricane Ian could have consequences for the November election

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Election Day is just 35 days away and much of Southwest and Central Florida are just beginning to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Ian.

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Some Florida lawmakers are hoping the governor will take action to make it easier for residents in those areas to vote.

It’s been done before.

After Hurricane Michael hit the panhandle, then-Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order allowing impacted counties to extend early voting and voter registration deadlines.

It also allowed for the counties to set up additional voting sites.

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Still, University of North Florida political science professor Dr. Michael Binder pointed out that voter turnout in impacted counties took a hit.

“We saw turnout drop almost 10%,” said Binder.

The governor’s office said Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd is touring Southwest Florida this week and speaking with elections supervisors to determine what, if any, changes need to be made to ensure access to the ballot in November.

According to the governor’s office, the secretary of state will be in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hendry and Lee counties.

But State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) highlighted counties in central Florida are notably absent from the secretary’s itinerary.

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“There are a lot of concerns no matter the demographic of those who live in these impacted counties, which is why our approach to ensuring people can vote should be bipartisan. My concern right now is that it looks very partisan,” said Eskamani.

Orange County is heavily Democratic, unlike the counties in Southwest Florida.

Binder said he hopes any emergency actions taken to ease voting in disaster-ridden parts of the state apply equally regardless of their partisan leanings.

“So that all Floridians, not just Republican Floridians, can get their voices heard at the ballot box in November,” said Binder.

Eskamani said looking back to Hurricane Michael, any emergency changes need to have money backing them.

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“The emergency polling locations were not funded and so there really does need to be also just improvements to what was done prior, so that we can help reduce the depression in voter turnout,” said Eskamani.

One option that doesn’t appear to be on the table at all right now is changing the actual date of the election.

While state law would allow such a move for state and local races, Byrd told us it’s not clear whether the state has the authority to move the date for US House and Senate races also on the ballot this year.