Presidential Election, 3 November 2020

Hurricane Zeta, 24–29 October 2020 

On 24 October 2020, Hurricane Zeta emerged as a storm in the Caribbean Sea and traveled up the Yucatan Peninsula before it made landfall in Louisiana on 28 October 2020 as a category 3 hurricane (Lamprea 2020; National Weather Service 2020). The hurricane killed at least five individuals and caused billions of dollars worth of damage across American Gulf Coast states including Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia (Blake et al 2020). The hurricane produced wind gusts of 65-80km/h in most locations while some locations experienced gusts of over 80–110kmh (National Weather Service 2020). In total, more than two million homes were left without power across Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia (Spocchia 2020; Watson 2020). 

Scientists warn that global warming has increased the intensity of hurricanes and that they produce more rain. Due to warmer air temperatures caused by human-induced climate change, storms forming over the ocean absorb more moisture, as warm air can hold more moisture (Fountain 2020).  

Besides the hurricane, the election took place during the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Impact on the electoral process  

Hurricane Zeta and the widespread power outages caused took place just a week before the US presidential elections Greene, George, Hancock, Harrison and Perry parishes in Mississippi were impacted the most severely, as polling stations were without generators to fall back on (Watson 2020; Deslatte and Chandler 2020). Three of these parishes remained open for absentee voting only, while the Hancock division had to close while local officials to assessed storm damage (Watson 2020).  

In Alabama, several polling places lost power due to storm damage. Similarly in Northern Florida, Northern Georgia and all six Douglas Counties in Atlanta (Spocchia 2020).  

95 polling sites in the southwestern Louisiana’s Calcasieu and Cameron parishes remained closed having being damaged over a year earlier by Hurricane Laura (August 2019) and not yet made ready.  This meant thousands of voters had to travel to different polling locations to cast their ballots. Meanwhile, several counties including the New Orleans area ran on generator power (Deslatte and Chandler 2020).  

Here and in other affected states, utility companies and election officials prioritized restoring power to polling stations where possible including by providing generators (Deslatte and Chandler 2020). In Mississippi, the state’s Emergency Management Agency was put on standby to grant assistance to any county in distress before or after election day (Watson 2020).  

In New Orleans the Democratic Party Mayor, LaToya Cantrell, criticized the office of the Louisiana Secretary of State for failing to provide the generators needed for polling sites and risking disenfranchisement of voters (Deslatte and Chandler 2020). Mayor LaToya extended recognition to the collaboration between the city of New Orleans and the energy company Entergy, ‘neither ... [of which] are responsible for elections in the State of Louisiana’ for ‘working together to ensure generators will be in place for all polling locations’ in the local area (City of New Orleans 2020; Deslatte and Chandler 2020).  

In addition to the vote-by-mail option available in Florida, three counties in Florida’s panhandle were allotted early voting opportunities; however, due to increased risk from Hurricane Zeta, officials decided to shorten early voting hours (Dixon 2020). County election boards had also introduced special voting arrangements as part of Covid-19 mitigation measures (James, Clark and Asplund 2023).  

During the United States 2020 general election, the national voter turnout was 70.7 per cent, as compared with 56.8 per cent in 2018 (International IDEA n.d.). Mississippi’s turnout, at 60.2 per cent, was the sixth lowest nationwide and 6 per cent below the national average (Statista 2025). Alabama and Georgia (by three per cent), Louisiana and South Carolina (by two per cent) also fell below national average turnout (Statista 2025). The voter turnout rate in North Carolina and in Florida was above national average, at 71.5 per cent and 71.7 per cent, respectively (Statista 2025).