TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used his emergency powers Thursday to waive state election laws for more than a dozen counties that are still dealing with the aftermath of the powerful and deadly Hurricane Helene.
The moves, detailed in an executive order obtained by POLITICO, are a lifeline to local election supervisors who asked the state for several key changes, such as consolidating polling places, as they contend with widespread damages and disruptions wrought by the Category 4 storm.
“We are all systems go on everything we can do to be helpful,” DeSantis said Thursday during a media briefing on Anna Maria Island. “We also think the elections are going to go fine. We’re making the same accommodations we did with [Hurricane] Ian; everyone is going to be able to vote and they’ll be able to do so securely and safely.”
Florida’s election supervisors earlier this week sought a series of changes from DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd in the wake of the storm, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend and also brought a massive surge that inundated counties in the Tampa Bay region and southwestern Florida.
