ENVIRONMENT EXPLAINED
How to Navigate Voting Logistics After Extreme Weather Events
While every state and disaster is different, there are some standard steps that can help you cast your ballot

Daniella Pierre in Miami during the last day of early voting on August 18. “It is my responsibly for my community and my future, and I also brought others from church to come vote," Pierre said. | Photo by Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald via AP
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, election officials across the Southeast are reckoning with the challenge of hosting a safe, secure, and accessible election in the midst of a disaster zone. It’s a daunting task, considering the billions of dollars in damages these storms caused, including to critical infrastructure, such as roads and power lines.
“If there's one silver lining, and it's very minimal, especially given the devastation that people are experiencing on the ground, it's that these events happened several weeks before the end of voting, allowing election officials time to mitigate the negative impacts,” said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, in a press briefing following the storms.
Protecting the right to vote while dealing with disaster is increasingly part of the job description for election officials, Becker added, pointing to previous elections that were affected by storms such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and Hurricane Michael in 2018. Extreme weather throughout the year and across the country can impact election logistics: With primaries starting as early as January and Election Day taking place in November, the US electoral calendar spans all sorts of seasonal environmental hazards that climate change is making more frequent and intense. That includes forecasted events, such as hurricanes and bouts of extreme heat and cold, and the unpredictable ones, such as wildfires.
How election officials prepare for disasters
While the US Election Assistance Commission offers recommendations to help officials prepare for disruptive disasters, there is no set standard for these responses across the country. Each state has its own approach and regulations related to voting as well as its own local hazards to consider. Still, Veronica Degraffenreid, who previously served as acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth and director of election operations for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said there are some common considerations across state lines when it comes to contingency planning.
“It’s the people. It's potentially the cost of the equipment. It's the location. It's logistics,” Degraffenreid said.
In other words: Have election officials, poll workers, and other essential staff been impacted, and will they be able to show up for their jobs? How about damage to the physical voting sites and equipment, as well as mailboxes and post offices? Will electricity and water be available to support running a polling site? If there are concerns around any of these questions, states might need to adjust their plans, whether that means bringing on new staff or changing their polling locations or schedules.
Then there are the voters themselves. Will they have access to their homes ahead of the election? Is transportation possible, or are roads still blocked?
In many cases, states will allow for additional flexibility after disasters to make it easier for those whose lives have been disrupted to access a ballot. This was broadly the case during the onset of the pandemic, which led to many states making significant changes to voting options, such as expanding mail-in offerings in order to keep voting accessible. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, multiple organizations have also advocated for extending voter registration deadlines, noting that storm preparation, outages, and losses might have hindered some from being able to take this step as planned.
Natural disasters that occur close to voting deadlines can make participation complicated by displacing people to addresses other than where they are registered to vote. "They may not even be aware that they are allowed to be registered to vote in that [new] location where they are,” said Sarah Birch, a professor of political science at King’s College London who studies the effects of extreme weather events on international elections. “Or they may not even think about it because they have so many other things on their mind."
If officials alter voting logistics to make it more accessible in light of a disaster, Birch also said it’s important for them to be transparent about the changes. Despite the fact that there is significant precedence for taking such steps, any deviations from the normal election proceedings can “breed suspicion,” she said, particularly given the current partisan climate in the US. “They need to explain what they’re doing and why they’re doing it,” she added.
Considerations for impacted voters
Experts urge voters to begin considering options for casting their ballot as soon as possible, even if the event they experienced happened months—or years—before Election Day.
The first step is to determine whether you are registered to vote. You can visit Vote.Gov to check your status. If you are not in the system, you can also learn more about your state’s registration requirements there. This step is not just important for recent disaster survivors but also those who might have been displaced since the previous election. Just a few months after the 2023 Maui wildfires, county officials were already issuing a press release urging residents to update their addresses in order to receive all relevant paperwork for the 2024 presidential vote. Oftentimes, people who are displaced might make a number of moves, Maui County Clerk Moana Lutey explained, so it’s important to ensure this address is current and correct.
Once you’re registered, you’ll want to check your county or state’s website for updates on whether polling places have changed, deadlines have been extended, or if there are any concerns around the ability to send or receive mail-in ballots. Degraffenreid, who now works for the Brennan Center for Justice, explained that some regulations might be relaxed to provide flexibility for disaster survivors, pointing to North Carolina’s voter identification requirement as one example.
“North Carolina allows for an affidavit if you are a victim of a natural disaster and that's the reason why you don't have an ID,” Degraffenreid said. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the state is also offering free voter ID cards to registered voters who stop by their county’s board of elections office.
Once you understand your options, you’ll want to consider any infrastructure hurdles that might impede your preferred method of voting. If you prefer an absentee ballot but are displaced, see if you can request that your ballot be sent to a temporary address. States such as California and Florida have allowed this after previous disasters.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said there have also been some specific concerns around ballots that might have been lost in transit.
“If you have not received your absentee ballot and you did request one, contact your county board of elections and ask to have that spoiled and a new one reissued,” Brinson Bell said. The same goes for if you sent your ballot in and are unsure if it made it back to officials due to the storm.
For those who prefer to vote in person, you’ll want to check if your regular local polling site is functional. If not, you’ll need to identify a backup plan, whether that means finding a new location or opting for an absentee ballot. Your county’s website should share all the options available, including any unique offerings being extended due to the disaster, such as the mobile voting center California's Santa Cruz County set up in 2020 to better reach residents affected by the CZU Lightning Complex wildfire that summer.
Whether you’re voting in person or taking your ballot to a drop box or mailbox, Degraffenreid suggested mapping out your route ahead of time to make sure the roads are accessible and that you have enough fuel to get there. And if you still have questions specific to your area, the US Vote Foundation offers this tool to identify and contact your local election officials directly.
Creating a personal contingency plan for future elections
Degraffenreid acknowledged that this planning can be a lot to ask of disaster survivors who are likely navigating a series of government sites already as part of their recovery process. So, for those outside of the areas impacted by these recent storms, she recommends taking preventative steps to plan your vote, which will help lessen this burden if a disaster does strike your area in the future. Hurricane Helene is only the most recent signal that climate-change-charged hazards can reach all corners of the country, even areas that are inland or do not have significant disasters in their recent history.
On the personal side, Degraffenreid said the basic step of making sure your voter registration address is up to date and making a voting plan ahead of Election Day can help you be more resilient to any shocks that come your way ahead of November—at least this way, you know where your information is headed and what your options look like. For those who prefer absentee voting, you can also sign up to track your ballot to get a better idea of its progression, which can help provide clarity during future disasters.
Birch also recommended keeping up with the weather and adjusting your plans accordingly if the weather is verging on any extremes. However, she said officials ultimately hold the reigns when it comes to making the sort of major changes that can help protect public health, safety, and rights during elections.
“There's a limit to what the individuals can do,” she said. “I just think coordination between the electoral authorities and other authorities—the weather forecasting service, the disaster management authorities—to put in place plans to deal with elections under a situation of disaster and to warn electoral authorities of imminent risk is also important.”