Michael hasn’t stopped voters
Officials optimistic devastation won’t dampen turnout
PANAMA CITY — Lisa Yarbrough rode out Hurricane Michael, the most powerful storm ever to hit the Panhandle, in her Panama City apartment. Three weeks later, she’s living in Fort Rucker, across the state line in Alabama, unable to remain in her home because of wind, water and mold damage.
Even so, she made time Wednesday to cast a ballot at a “mega site” set up by officials at the Supervisor of Elections office, one of six early voting polling places in Bay County.
“It’s my right to vote,” said Yarbrough, 55, a federal government worker. “I have always been a very avid voter. … Even if there’s one thing on the ballot, then I need to come out and vote, period. It’s my voice.”
That’s the type of attitude that has local officials here optimistic the storm won’t
dampen voter turnout for Tuesday’s election.
Bay County residents “are very committed and patriotic,” said Mark Andersen, supervisor of elections for the county. “Will this affect some voters? Yes, but I can tell you for some voters it’s affecting them the other way in that they’re energized to make sure they have that vote cast.”
In addition to the six mega sites, Anderson plans to set up three spots sites on Friday to open for 12 hours to encourage people to vote early. Another spot site will open in Mexico Beach, a sleepy beach town decimated by Michael, on Friday.
Instead of the usual 44 precincts, Andersen would have set up on Election Day, the six mega sites will serve the whole county. He simply can’t find the 600 poll workers necessary to staff that many precincts and besides, some of the precincts were destroyed.
The GOP, especially, hopes turnout remains strong in Bay County and the surrounding areas, a deeply Republican part of the Panhandle that could be crucial to the outcome of the midterm elections in Florida, which as seen razor-thin margins in the last two elections.
As of Thursday, Bay County had 17,521 early vote ballots cast, eclipsing the total from the entire early voting period of the last midterm elections in 2014 by 248 votes. Mail-in ballots, however, are at 6,325 votes returned, less than half of the 13,286 cast by mail in 2014.
Nearly 66 percent of the early and mail ballots cast so far have come from registered Republicans, with about 23 percent from Democrats and another 11 percent coming from independents and third-party voters.
Three weeks after the Michael hit, power lines remain strewn across streets, debris is piled along roadways and blue tarp dots the houses and businesses that weren’t swept completely away. Thousands remain without homes, with some seeking assistance from FEMA and others getting shelter with friends or relatives nearby.
Despite the prospect of a lengthy recovery, the region is still buzzing with activity. Traffic from workmen clearing debris, placing tarps on homes and law enforcement officials still chokes some main roadways. An airplane carrying an advertisement for “Roof/ Tarp Service” greeted those entering the city Wednesday.
For some residents, though, the main focus is on recovery, with voting an afterthought.
Although a voting site is just a block from her home, Catherine Kahohuloa hasn’t voted and doesn’t know if she will. When asked if it’s a priority for her despite the storm damage, she says “it needs to be . . .” then drifts off.
She described the damage and the aftermath of the storm — which led to the deaths of 45 people, including 35 in Florida — as her nephew, Devon Griggs, helped clear debris from the yard.
The storm’s 145-mph winds uprooted an oak tree, which smashed her white van and narrowly missed her house. She rode it out in a hospital where she works and received temporary housing for 12 days there. The power came back on at her house on Saturday but she still can’t restore electricity fully because of damage to some of her circuits.
The gym at the middle school across the street from her was destroyed and she doesn’t know when schools will open again.
Yet a determination exists among many residents not only to rebuild but to vote as well.
Lloyd Cuthrell Jr., 54, a resident of nearby Callaway, fled his home ahead of Michael but said the damage is the worst he’s seen. He said he planned to vote Wednesday, even as he attempted to contact his insurance company to file a claim.
“I look at it as our responsibility as Americans to vote,” said Cuthrell, a construction worker. “This was a right that was given to us by our founding fathers, and it must be exercised. Whichever way you want to vote, vote. Voice your opinion. When you step back and don’t vote, that’s when you don’t have anything to complain about.”