Southern States Try to Minimize Voting Disruptions After Hurricane Helene

• Oct. 3, 2024, 2:34 p.m. ET

As Hurricane Helene tore through several Southern states last week, killing more than 185 people, the storm also upended carefully laid plans for the November election, including in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, where the presidential race and control of the Senate may be decided.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, announced on Thursday that he would sign an executive order giving election officials in 13 affected counties more flexibility than state law normally allows in administering early and absentee voting.

Mr. DeSantis announced the executive order during an event in Manatee County. His office did not immediately respond to a request for a copy of the order, but he said in his remarks that it would be similar to one that he signed after Hurricane Ian hit the state in late September 2022.

That order included provisions allowing county election supervisors to open additional early voting sites, to relocate polling places or designate new ballot collection locations after the normal deadline and to accept voters’ requests to send mail ballots somewhere other than the home address they had on file.

Election officials had asked the Florida secretary of state’s office for such flexibility earlier this week.

“We also think that the elections are going to go fine,” Mr. DeSantis said. “Everyone is going to be able to get to vote, and they’ll be able to do so securely and safely.”

It is not yet clear how election procedures may be affected in North Carolina, where the hurricane devastated communities in the mountainous western part of the state. The damage could make some polling places inaccessible. A spokesman for the state elections board did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

The mailing of absentee ballots in North Carolina had already been delayed because of a last-minute state Supreme Court ruling ordering election officials to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name, which required millions of ballots to be reprinted. Because of that delay, more ballots may have still been in the mail when the hurricane hit and disrupted postal service.

In Georgia, county officials may begin mailing absentee ballots on Monday, and early voting is scheduled to begin on Oct. 15.

The Georgia secretary of state’s office said it was confident that early voting would start as planned, even in storm-rocked regions of the state.

“My office is working hard to make sure the election workers in the affected counties are safe, that their equipment is undamaged and secure and that their early voting locations will be functional by the time early voting starts,” the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Patricia Mazzei and Alan Blinder contributed reporting.