Election day hurricane? probably a good idea to take advantage of early voting in the Southeast.

Long time followers are well aware that I don’t get too animated about storms until they are at least an invest area, and don’t advocate taking precipitous actions too far in advance, certainly not 10 days out. Unless there are special circumstances, like a major surgery other medical or critical event, if you’ve done your pre-season hurricane planning and have some common sense there is generally plenty of time to follow the normal process and not do much until you are in a watch area, because otherwise you’re running from clouds. But there are rare exceptions.

And this is one of them.

Voting has started for the U.S. elections, and while every election is important, this one feels especially momentous. I can’t decide if it’s because of the level of hype and angst, or if it is because it really does represent a significant turning point. I’ve expressed my opinion on the state of politics and the need for some civility in our political discourse (link) in an article I hope people will read and think about (not just react to) no matter which gang colors you fly.

Here’s the problem from a hurricane perspective: The longer range models are showing the potential for a storm to spin up and many recent runs have impacts in the southeast. Normally at this stage I’d be saying ‘meh’ and recommend waiting and see before doing anything. But … this one could arrive right around election day, and that’s a potential nightmare on a lot of levels. Both sides are already planning their post-election lawfare strategy, and this could make the inevitable mess even messier. None of us can do much about that (although those of you who are active in the political process could and should have).

The problem is timing. Early voting in Georgia, for instance, ends the 1st, and South Carolina the 2nd. I think Florida varies by county but also ends the 2nd. That will likely be before watches go up, and before we know who will be impacted and how bad. For Tuesday November 5th, watches and or warnings could be up for areas of Florida and perhaps even Georgia, or other Gulf states. It’s even possible (possible, not probably or likely at this point) there will be tropical storm or hurricane conditions over parts of the CONUS (Continental United States).

So it makes a lot of sense to plan to vote early in these states if at all possible.

Historically Republicans tend to not use early or absentee voting, preferring to show up on election day. That may not be such a great idea this year if, and it is still a big if, a major storm develops and impacts the southeast. So in this case, with a potential major storm impacting key states right around election day it is vital, especially for Republicans, to go ahead and take advantage of the process.

Just in case.

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Have had a couple of people ask if that last is a hint to a voting preference – it isn’t intended that way. I’m simply pointing out that statistically and historically, Republicans tend to vote in person on election day for a variety of reasons.

The Democratic Party has been very aggressive about early voting. The Republican Party hasn’t taken advantage of the process or pushed their voters to do that as hard. So it is not a symmetrical situation, and Republicans might need an extra reminder.