PNN – Hill’s website wrote: The consequences of Hurricane Helen have created new obstacles for voters and election officials in the two states of Georgia and South Carolina, which play a decisive role in the US presidential election.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, this American media in a report that highlights the weakness of American infrastructure in the face of natural disasters, added: The consequences of Hurricane Helen have threatened to disrupt the election process in two important states and battlegrounds in the United States.
Flooding, storm conditions and power outages have left many residents homeless and disrupted postal services and election officials across the two southeastern states. The consequences of this disruption can complicate and complicate early voting through postal systems and discourage voters from participating in elections.
Michael Morley, a law professor at Florida State University who studies elections in emergencies and natural disasters, said: Hurricane Helen created “significant and unexpected new obstacles to the election.” The storm caused unexpected obstacles for the election officials and put more pressure on the electoral administration systems.
According to the Associated Press news agency, last week, Hurricane Helen hit the southeastern regions of the United States with heavy rains, strong winds and floods, killing more than 200 people. Almost half of the dead in the recent storm in the United States are residents of North Carolina. Many residents of the storm-hit areas have been without water and electricity for the past few days, and relief forces are still providing aid to people who are missing in the devastation caused by the storm.
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Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of North Carolina Elections, said: “The disruptions are unprecedented, and this level of uncertainty on the eve of Election Day is disappointing.”
According to data compiled by Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College in the state, about 17 percent of eligible voters in North Carolina are in hurricane-affected areas, or about 1.3 million voters. .
North Carolina and Georgia are two so-called battleground states in the race between Joe Biden’s Vice President Kamla Harris and former US President Donald Trump, and observers believe that the disruptions caused by Hurricane Helen can disrupt the process of this tight race.
The latest Hill and Decision Desk poll shows Trump ahead of Harris in both states by just a few points. In Florida, where Democrats are optimistic about shifting support from the Republican candidate to the Democratic challenger, and which has also been subject to storms, Trump is leading by two percentage points.
Trump won both states in the 2016 election. In the 2020 election, he was able to win the support of voters in the state of North Carolina, but Biden won in Georgia.
John Gasper, an assistant professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University, also said: incumbent presidents may sometimes be “punished” at the ballot box for events beyond their control and in the event of a disaster. But natural disasters can also be a positive test for the leadership of politicians and officials involved, and a strong response can sometimes “reward” them in elections.
President Trump, Harris and Biden have visited storm-hit areas in the southeast of the United States in recent days. The White House has allocated $45 million in aid to the areas affected by the storm. However, according to Florida University Professor Morley, the issue of elections is one of the dimensions of the need for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the damaged areas. Efforts to provide electricity and save human lives immediately after the occurrence of such disasters are as important as elections and even more so.