Counties in the Florida panhandle, a stronghold for republicans in the past thirty years, have shortened or eliminated early voting days as Hurricane Zeta gets set to hit Gulf states on Wednesday, Politico reports.
Escambia, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties, which went to Trump with 60, 71 and 74 percent of the vote, respectively, in 2016. All three counties will cut early voting hours by at least four hours on Wednesday, potentially shutting down all day Thursday based on possible damage and power outages caused by the hurricane.
“It’s an abundance of caution for us,” Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux said in an interview. “Hurricane Sally just in September weakened a bunch of trees and power lines, so we need to be careful, but I do think we will get back up and running quickly.”