Floods and a tornado force US polling places to move on Election Day, from Florida to Utah and Oklahoma
Severe weather is disrupting Election Day in several US states. Florida moved 21 polling places covering 30 precincts in eight counties after flash floods made sites unsafe or roads impassable. In Utah and Colorado, voters cut off by historic flooding can return their ballots electronically, and in Oklahoma a tornado damaged a community center used as a polling place.
Flash floods, record rain and a tornado have forced election officials in several US states to move polling places or change how people can vote in Tuesday's midterm elections, 3 November.
Florida was hit hardest. Election officials in Brevard, Broward, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties set up temporary polling places for 21 original sites covering 30 precincts, where buildings were damaged by flooding or the roads to them were flooded or unsafe, the state Division of Elections said. Brevard, on the Space Coast, and St. Lucie were the most affected. The relocations were made under an emergency executive order after Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency, and notices are posted at the old sites. Voters can check the new addresses on the Division of Elections website or with their county.
In Utah, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson issued a Declaration of Emergency Election Accommodations for San Juan County, hit by repeated floods. Voters there who cannot reasonably travel to a polling place or drop box can receive and return their ballot electronically, an option normally reserved for military and overseas voters. Requests must be made by 5 p.m. and ballots sent by 8 p.m. local time. "We want every eligible voter in San Juan County to be able to cast a ballot," Henderson said.
In neighbouring southwest Colorado, voters in La Plata and Archuleta counties who cannot safely reach a voting center can request an emergency ballot and return it electronically, under a state law used for natural disasters. Archuleta County closed a voter center and a drop box in Pagosa Springs because of flood risk and opened new locations, the Colorado Secretary of State said.
In Oklahoma, a tornado on Sunday damaged the roof and collapsed a wall of the Keyes Community Center in Cimarron County, according to a National Weather Service damage survey, and county officials moved the polling place, saying the building was unsafe. In Arizona, where record rain caused deadly flooding, two of Maricopa County's vote centers closed for about two hours on Monday, the last day of early voting, because of power problems; both reopened and all Election Day sites opened as planned, county officials said.
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