Presidential Election, 3 November 2020

Wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington state, September 2020 

Wildfires destroyed 1 million acres and residential and commercial buildings in the states of Oregon, California and Washington. At least 33 people lost their lives.  

In Oregon, some 40,000 people were forced to evacuate (Newburger 2020). In every year from 2000 to 2020, except for 2006, Oregon had experienced moderate or extreme drought. In 2020, moderate and extreme drought affected 25 per cent and 80 per cent of the state, respectively. The drought (and the dry wildfires that followed) were linked to climate-driven temperature increases across large parts of the Western USA (Burns 2020).    

At the time of the election, the country was also dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic (see: International IDEA 2022).  

Impact on the electoral process 

The wildfires displaced thousands of voters approximately two months before election day. In Oregon, where the State Governor declared a state of emergency (Newburger 2020), voters displaced by wildfires did not need to re-register to vote at their temporary address. Postal ballots based on the voter’s permanent address constituency were sent to temporary addressees on request or could also be picked up at the voter's local post office (Riski 2020). Civil society organizations in Oregon were involved in providing voter and civic education for the displaced (Mansoor 2020). Flyers were posted in English and Spanish on how to receive ballots.  

Special Voting Arrangements were also put in place in California (California Secretary of State 2020), including mobile ballot box voting. Teams from Santa Cruz County clerk office could visit shelters and areas devastated by wildfires to allow people to register, vote, or access replacement ballots (Mansoor 2020). The County Clerk office also held regular zoom meetings to keep stakeholders informed. Information on how displaced people could vote was available in both English and Spanish. Mobile ballot box voting was one of the special voting arrangements that were used for the election as