Numerous social media users have noted that Hurricane Helene caused a path of destruction through Republican-majority areas, particularly in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.
“FEMA’s failure to get aid to communities devastated by the hurricane has understandably sparked fear and frustration. I heard an NPR host express concern that this incompetence might benefit Trump at the polls. But as I reflected on it, a different thought crossed my mind,” X user ‘amuse’ wrote.
“While the survivors of this disaster might be more inclined to vote against Kamala Harris, it’s doubtful that many of them will be able to vote at all. These folks are in survival mode—how much effort will they be able to put into casting a ballot when they’re focused on rebuilding their lives?” the post added.
ELECTION INTEGRITY: FEMA’s failure to get aid to communities devastated by the hurricane has understandably sparked fear and frustration. I heard an NPR host express concern that this incompetence might benefit Trump at the polls. But as I reflected on it, a different thought… pic.twitter.com/qA2WHI6PCx
— @amuse (@amuse) October 3, 2024
“If you’re curious how each county affected by Hurricane Helene voted in 2020 and how this might impact the 2024 election, here’s a breakdown of every county affected according to the White House, how they voted in 2020, and their population,” X user ‘SWAMPIST’ said.
Florida (17 counties):
Taylor County – Trump | Population: 21,796
Madison County – Trump | Population: 18,493
Dixie County – Trump | Population: 16,759
Levy County – Trump | Population: 42,915
Wakulla County – Trump | Population: 33,739
Jefferson County – Trump | Population:…— SWAMPIST (@swamp_ist) October 5, 2024
Florida (17 counties):
Taylor County – Trump | Population: 21,796
Madison County – Trump | Population: 18,493
Dixie County – Trump | Population: 16,759
Levy County – Trump | Population: 42,915
Wakulla County – Trump | Population: 33,739
Jefferson County – Trump | Population: 14,043
Lafayette County – Trump | Population: 8,422
Suwannee County – Trump | Population: 44,317
Hamilton County – Trump | Population: 13,392
Gilchrist County – Trump | Population: 17,864
Columbia County – Trump | Population: 71,686
Union County – Trump | Population: 15,299
Baker County – Trump | Population: 28,259
Bradford County – Trump | Population: 28,303
Putnam County – Trump | Population: 73,321
Marion County – Trump | Population: 375,908
Alachua County – Biden | Population: 278,468ADVERTISEMENTTotal Population: 1,102,984
North Carolina (25 counties):
Buncombe County – Biden | Population: 269,452
Henderson County – Trump | Population: 116,747
Haywood County – Trump | Population: 62,089
Jackson County – Trump | Population: 44,098
Macon County – Trump | Population: 37,749
Transylvania County -…— SWAMPIST (@swamp_ist) October 5, 2024
Georgia Counties (41 total):
Atkinson County – Trump | Population: 8,299
Ben Hill County – Trump | Population: 17,070
Berrien County – Trump | Population: 19,397
Brooks County – Trump | Population: 15,457
Burke County – Trump | Population: 24,796
Candler County – Trump | Population: 10,946
Columbia County – Trump | Population: 156,010
Echols County – Trump | Population: 4,021
Jeff Davis County – Trump | Population: 15,115
Jefferson County – Trump | Population: 15,709
Lanier County – Trump | Population: 10,423
Laurens County – Trump | Population: 47,547
Lowndes County – Trump | Population: 118,251
McDuffie County – Trump | Population: 21,875
Richmond County – Biden | Population: 206,607
Screven County – Trump | Population: 13,037
Telfair County – Trump | Population: 15,860
Toombs County – Trump | Population: 26,830
Treutlen County – Trump | Population: 6,406
Ware County – Trump | Population: 36,251
Warren County – Biden | Population: 5,254
Wheeler County – Trump | Population: 7,855
Wilkes County – Trump | Population: 9,777
Bacon County – Trump | Population: 11,140
Brantley County – Trump | Population: 19,109
Coffee County – Trump | Population: 43,273
Cook County – Trump | Population: 17,304
Emanuel County – Trump | Population: 22,768
Evans County – Trump | Population: 10,120
Glascock County – Trump | Population: 3,062
Jenkins County – Trump | Population: 8,674
Pierce County – Trump | Population: 19,716
Tattnall County – Trump | Population: 25,200
Towns County – Trump | Population: 12,493
Wayne County – Trump | Population: 30,144
Wilkinson County – Trump | Population: 8,728
Appling County – Trump | Population: 18,444
Charlton County – Trump | Population: 12,171
Clinch County – Trump | Population: 6,749
Long County – Trump | Population: 19,559
Montgomery County – Trump | Population: 9,123Total Population of Impacted Georgia Counties:
~910,112North Carolina (25 counties):
Buncombe County – Biden | Population: 269,452
Henderson County – Trump | Population: 116,747
Haywood County – Trump | Population: 62,089
Jackson County – Trump | Population: 44,098
Macon County – Trump | Population: 37,749
Transylvania County – Trump | Population: 34,385
Madison County – Trump | Population: 21,193
Yancey County – Trump | Population: 18,470
Mitchell County – Trump | Population: 14,903
Swain County – Trump | Population: 14,142
Graham County – Trump | Population: 8,441
Cherokee County – Trump | Population: 28,774
Clay County – Trump | Population: 11,089
Polk County – Trump | Population: 20,724
Rutherford County – Trump | Population: 64,444
Cleveland County – Trump | Population: 99,519
Lincoln County – Trump | Population: 90,579
Gaston County – Trump | Population: 227,943
Mecklenburg County – Biden | Population: 1,115,482
Rowan County – Trump | Population: 146,875
Davidson County – Trump | Population: 167,609
Guilford County – Biden | Population: 541,299
Alamance County – Trump | Population: 169,509Total Population of Impacted North Carolina Counties: ~3,764,545
Here’s the margin of victory from these states in 2020:
Florida:
Trump won by 371,686 votesGeorgia:
Biden won by 11,779 votesNorth Carolina:
Trump won by 74,481 votesTennessee:
Trump won by 695,626 votesSouth Carolina:
Trump won by 297,490 votesVirginia:
Biden won by…— SWAMPIST (@swamp_ist) October 5, 2024
Tennessee (8 counties):
ADVERTISEMENTUnicoi County – Trump | Population: 17,928
Greene County – Trump | Population: 69,069
Carter County – Trump | Population: 56,356
Johnson County – Trump | Population: 17,788
Washington County – Trump | Population: 133,001
Sullivan County – Trump | Population: 158,163
Cocke County – Trump | Population: 36,004
Hancock County – Trump | Population: 6,517Total Population: 494,826
South Carolina (13 counties):
Charleston County – Biden | Population: 411,406
Horry County – Trump | Population: 351,029
Georgetown County – Trump | Population: 63,404
Beaufort County – Trump | Population: 199,701
Jasper County – Trump | Population: 31,624
Colleton County – Trump | Population: 37,677
Dorchester County – Trump | Population: 167,852
Berkeley County – Trump | Population: 236,701
Florence County – Trump | Population: 137,059
Williamsburg County – Biden | Population: 29,273
Marion County – Trump | Population: 29,183
Dillon County – Trump | Population: 28,292
Marlboro County – Trump | Population: 26,667Total Population: 1,749,868
Virginia (counties affected not specified but presumed):
Wise County – Trump | Population: 35,637
Dickenson County – Trump | Population: 14,124
Buchanan County – Trump | Population: 20,625Total Population: 70,386
ADVERTISEMENTHere’s the margin of victory from these states in 2020:
Florida:
Trump won by 371,686 votesGeorgia:
Biden won by 11,779 votesNorth Carolina:
Trump won by 74,481 votesTennessee:
Trump won by 695,626 votesSouth Carolina:
Trump won by 297,490 votesVirginia:
Biden won by 451,138 votes
“For those keeping score at home, this storm makes it plausible and easy to steal this election in Georgia and North Carolina, without much suspicion. Virginia is much more in play than people think as well. If you think the regime doesn’t see this as their cover – time to wake up,” SWAMPIST wrote.
Critical Impact (Red Zone):
1.Ashe County – Trump | Population: 26,577
2.Watauga County – Biden | Population: 54,086
3.Avery County – Trump | Population: 17,806
4.Mitchell County – Trump | Population: 14,903
5.Yancey County – Trump | Population: 18,470
6.Madison County – Trump |… pic.twitter.com/DjiZOhCP7d— SWAMPIST (@swamp_ist) October 5, 2024
POLITICO acknowledged the aftermath from Hurricane Helene could sway the 2024 presidential election.
“Helene hit Trump strongholds in Georgia and North Carolina. It could swing the election,” the outlet wrote.
“Extend the election in these counties This is ludicrous to imagine there can be a legitimate election where this is going on. Governors must show they are committed to democratic values,” Jack Posobiec commented.
Extend the election in these counties
This is ludicrous to imagine there can be a legitimate election where this is going on
Governors must show they are committed to democratic values https://t.co/6iuPXaofRL
— Jack Poso
(@JackPosobiec) October 5, 2024
From POLITICO:
Hurricane Helene hit especially hard in heavily Republican areas of Georgia and North Carolina — a fact that could work to Donald Trump’s disadvantage in the two swing states.
Research has shown that major disasters can influence both voter turnout and voter preference. And Helene has pushed this contest into novel territory: It’s the first catastrophic event in U.S. history to hit two critical swing states within six weeks of a presidential election, based on a POLITICO’s E&E News analysis of data compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The challenge for Trump: The parts of western North Carolina and eastern Georgia that were flooded by the monster storm are largely Republican. In 2020, he won 61 percent of the vote in the North Carolina counties that were declared a disaster after Helene. He won 54 percent of the vote in Georgia’s disaster counties.
Both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris this week visited Georgia, a state that President Joe Biden won by just 11,779 votes in 2020. Georgia and North Carolina each have 16 electoral votes, and polls show that Trump is leading Harris by about 1 percentage point in each state, well within the margin of error.
“There’s going to be a lot of [voting] alterations, and it probably is going to affect turnout,” said Andy Jackson, director of the John Locke Foundation’s Civitas Center for Public Integrity, a free-market think tank in North Carolina.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the initiative to pass an executive order to ensure counties impacted by Hurricane Helene have voting access.
Gov. DeSantis Signs Executive Order To Ensure Hurricane Helene Victims Have Voting Access
WNCT 9 reports:
Hurricane Helene has thrown up new hurdles for voters and election officials alike in Georgia and North Carolina, threatening disruptions to the voting process in two of the most critical battleground states.
Flooding, stormy conditions and power outages have displaced residents, interrupted postal services and impacted election offices across the Southeast. The fallout could complicate early and mail voting in some places and demoralize voters from casting their ballots.
Helene “creates unexpected, substantial new barriers to voting,” said Michael Morley, a law professor at Florida State University who has studied elections in the wake of natural disasters and other emergencies.
“It imposes a lot more unexpected burdens on election officials, puts more strain on the election administration system, and it requires election officials to take emergency steps [to] mitigate the impact of the hurricane on both the election as a whole, and more specifically, on people’s ability to participate in the election,” Morley said.
Helene battered the Southeast last week with heavy rains, winds and flooding. The storm has killed more than 200 people, The Associated Press reported Friday, and roughly half the victims are said to be in North Carolina. Many residents were still without water and electricity this week, and rescue crews were still helping people stranded or missing in the wreckage.
“The destruction is unprecedented and this level of uncertainty this close to Election Day is daunting,” said North Carolina’s executive director of the State Board of Elections, Karen Brinson Bell, in a press conference on Tuesday, calling the storm’s impact on the western Tar Heel State “like nothing we’ve seen in our lifetimes.”
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