Will the hurricanes affect your vote? What to know as Manatee approaches Election Day

After Hurricanes Helene and Milton ripped through Manatee County, Supervisor of Elections James Satcher hopes to avoid disruptions to early and in-person voting.

The storms caused flooding and wind damage at voting locations on Anna Maria Island and in Palmetto, Satcher said. Election officials plan to inspect 28 polling sites and decide whether to relocate them.

“I know that it’s a tough time, but we’ve got a lot of resilient folks,” Satcher told the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday. “We’re committed to making sure this election every vote is counted, every citizen gets an opportunity to vote.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference on Anna Maria Island after Helene passed to announce an emergency order that gave election supervisors more flexibility to move voting locations in hurricane-affected counties and made it easier for voters to update their mail ballot address.

With early voting set to start Monday, Satcher pointed out that there was no damage at early voting locations.

“Early voting might be a good solution for a lot of voters,” Satcher said.

Residents can call the elections office to make address changes ahead of mail-in and early voting, he said. Voters may also choose to pick up their mail-in ballots at the elections office.

“If someone’s displaced and they’re worried about whether or not they’re going to get to vote, they need to call us and update their address, and we can send it to them,” Satcher said, noting that some residents have not returned to Manatee County after evacuating.

The final day to request a vote-by-mail ballot to be mailed is Oct. 24. The final day to request a vote-by-mail ballot for in-person pickup is Election Day, Nov. 5.

For more information, voters can call the elections office at (941) 741-3823 or visit the website at VoteManatee.com.