As extreme weather intensifies, inadequate protections put fundamental right to vote at risk
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As the Deep South experiences its second consecutive year of deadly winter storms, a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) warns that increasingly frequent and unpredictable natural disasters pose a critical and largely unaddressed threat to voting rights across the region, with Black communities disproportionately affected by storms that damage polling places, displace voters and compound existing barriers to the ballot box.
The report, Under the Radar, reveals how hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, wildfires and other extreme weather increasingly endanger the fundamental right to vote in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. The SPLC’s analysis reveals that 1.9 million Louisiana residents face elevated coastal flooding risks, while wildfire risks are increasing across Georgia, Florida and Louisiana. Yet states across the Deep South maintain restrictive voting policies that leave voters vulnerable when disasters strike during election season.
“The Deep South faces some of the nation’s highest disaster risks and some of its most restrictive voting laws,” said Thulasi Seshan, policy analyst, SPLC. “Alabama experiences more violent tornadoes than any other state. Nearly 2 million Louisianans live in flood zones. Yet several of these states, namely Mississippi and Alabama, heavily restrict absentee ballots, offer limited or no early voting, and do not dedicate resources to election disaster preparedness. Without policy changes, this is a crisis waiting to happen on Election Day.”
The report documents how natural disasters deepen racial inequities in voting access:
- Following Hurricanes Laura and Delta in Louisiana in 2020, Black voters’ share of the electorate declined by 9% as Black residents spent the longest time displaced from their communities.
- After the 2016 Louisiana floods, officials relocated 19 polling places — 15 of them in majority-Black precincts — and Black voters saw the largest increases in distance to their new polling locations.
- Twenty-five percent of Alabama residents live in areas with the highest tornado risk category, yet the state offers no early in-person voting to help voters cast ballots before storms strike.
- Mississippi and Alabama offer extremely limited access to absentee voting, meaning point-in-time disasters have the potential to devastate the voting process if they occur on Election Day.
“When disasters strike, they expose the systemic inequalities that were already there,” continued Seshan. “We cannot allow natural disasters to become another tool of voter suppression.”
The SPLC is calling on local and state officials to expand emergency funding and invest resources for disaster-resilient election infrastructure, to expand early and absentee voting, and protect communities of color from disparate impacts during emergencies. Voters of any party can lose access to the ballot in a natural disaster. Changes must be made to prepare for the next catastrophe before it inevitably arrives.
The full report, including interactive maps showing disaster risks by congressional district, is available here.
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About Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people. For more information, visit www.splcenter.org.