Will Hurricane Matthew affect voting in Florida?

[JDubya]

On Saturday, the day after Matthew is supposed to exit Florida, it will be exactly four weeks until November 8th, aka Election Day.

Predictions are, that highly populated areas of the state may be without electricity for weeks, not to mention the liklihood of extensive property damage and the very real possibility that untold thousands of residents (and voters) may be homeless or worse.

Any thoughts on if or how the situation might possibly affect the vote in what is probably the most important swing state in the country?

Re: socioeconomics, who might the storm hit the hardest? In New Orleans, during Katrina, it was the poor and lower income residents, mainly Democrats ostensibly, who suffered the brunt of the hardship. Might the same dynamic play out in Florida, or was N.O. a different situation because it was a densely populated urban area?

On the other hand, given that the storm is projected to follow the coastline, where the property values are the highest and the residents tend to be wealthier, mainly Republicans ostensibly, could they be the ones who suffer the brunt of the damage and thus, be hindered from turning out in large numbers on Election Day?

Any thoughts?

No snide comments please, as tPF rules apply.

[Newpublius]

New Orleans of course was under sea level so that exacerbates things. Perhaps it might be possible to measure turnout in Homestead back in 1992. Hurricane Andrew was a bit earlier, but it might be interesting to see what happened in Dade County or Homestead itself in 1988, 1992 and then in 1996.....

[exotix]

A natural act of GOP voter-suppression ?

[JDubya]

The GOP could turn out to be the ones suppressed this time.

[Adelaide]

Interesting; I hadn't thought about this.

I would imagine that if Florida is in an extended and protracted state of emergency or disaster recovery, the government would either delay the election or hold Florida's voting later. Or, they could use buses to get voters somewhere they can vote the old fashioned way (paper ballots) or place voting stations at easily accessed locations for a longer period (say, 2 to 3) than would be normal. I am sure the FEC has contingency plans for this type of scenario.

[JDubya]

One would hope....

[Common]

I dont believe mathew is going to cause as much damage as you say. The latest tracking has it going further to the right more offshore. This can change of course but as of an hour ago things looked a little more positive

[AeonPax]

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I don't think it's going to have any major effect on voting.

[Peter1469]

It is not a very serious hurricane. The media has gone way over board with their dire predictions for large storms. Katrina was bad. Andrew was bad. This one isn't.

I grew up in south east Louisiana. I rode out every hurricane growing up. The only storm that I would have left for was Katrina, and my mom's place didn't flood then. They got really lucky with the landfall a bit to the east of NO.

People in hurricane zones should always have a week or longer of food and fresh water along with batteries and other essentials on hand. It still amazes me that store shelves go bare in the days prior to a major storm.

[PolWatch]

I suspect the Weather Channel produces more revenue during a bad hurricane season. They have a vested interest in hyping up storms.