Devastation in storm-hit states interrupts election process amid looming ballot deadlines

With presidential election just three weeks away, the damaged infrastructure and environment of unrest among the people have disrupted the election process in the wake of storm ravages in the southern states of the United States. 

The affected communities undergo harsh circumstances in dealing with the disastrous impacts of the storm. 

Speaking on the current situation over recent hurricanes and election, Lycoming County’s director of elections, Forrest Lehman said: "The election officials in those states are going to have a terrible time in the coming weeks.

"It’s going to take time just to assess the damage to polling places. Did they have poll workers die? How many ballots got lost in the mail? How do you assess all that, recover from that? How are those people going to vote on Election Day?"

As the unfortunate natural disaster clashes with the election season, about 9,000 registered voters in Lycoming County proposed to vote by mail in this year’s upcoming presidential election, reported Lehman.

"The mail is all over the place. We get people that get their ballots in two days. We get people who it takes two weeks," he said. 

He also urged people who have received their mail-in ballot to return it as soon as possible.

Here are some important dates for Lycoming County residents, requesting to vote by mail:

October 21 — deadline for registering to vote in the election.

October 29 — deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot and request an absentee ballot as well.

November 5 — the election day.

Initially, the Helene hurricane hit Florida wreaked havoc and caused widespread damage in late September. Later, the storm battered western North Carolina, causing more than 230 casualties, flooding communities and harming essential facilities.

The ruined local and commercial structures make it even harder for the authorities to immediately fix the wreckage and create an environment conducive to not only fair conduction of elections but to compensate the loss of people’s properties as well.