Palm Beach County elections officials and political candidates Wednesday urged voters to vote early or submit mail-in ballots this week because of the threat of a tropical storm or hurricane affecting South Florida on Election Day. As of a 2 p.m. National Hurricane Center tropical weather outlook, a tropical wave, which would be named Hermine if it gains tropical storm strength, was southeast of Puerto Rico and was given a 80 percent chance of development by Saturday. The hurricane center has said it could affect South Florida between late Saturday and Monday as anything from a tropical disturbance to a hurricane. That would suggest it would be gone by Election Day, and unless it’s caused damage or flooding or knocked out power, Election Day could go on as scheduled, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher said Wednesday afternoon. She said polling machines already have been deployed to the 461 polling locations for the county’s 868 precincts.
In any event, she said, her office has a contingency plan — it’s not public — and if any polling places are unusable, the law allows for last-minute switches to backup sites.
At the least, such a storm would affect early voting, which runs through Sunday. Bucher said many churches turn Sunday services into “souls to the polls,” ending proceedings early so people can caravan to the polls.
Bucher urged people to vote sooner rather than later.
Full Article: Threat of storm has elections officials urging early voting | www.mypalmbeachpost.com.