Secretary of State Cord Byrd on Wednesday issued an emergency order pushing back certain election deadlines in 45 counties because of Tropical Storm Nicole.
The order included delaying from noon Saturday to noon Monday a deadline for county supervisors of elections to submit the first set of unofficial returns from Tuesday’s elections.
Also, Byrd pushed back deadlines for voters to submit affidavits to “cure” signature issues with mail-in ballots and for voters who cast provisional ballots to present evidence about their eligibility. Those deadlines were delayed from 5 p.m. Thursday to 5 p.m. Saturday.
“The Department (of State) has been monitoring this storm system for some time and with its imminent approach coinciding with post-election ballot cure and reporting deadlines, we want to do everything we can to ensure that every eligible vote in Florida will count,” Byrd said in a prepared statement.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday issued an executive order declaring an emergency in 34 counties and expanded it to 11 additional counties Wednesday.
The 11 added were Alachua, Bradford, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hernando, Jefferson, Levy, Marion, Pinellas, Taylor and Wakulla counties. The 34 in the initial order were Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, DeSoto, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River. Lake, Lee, Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter and Volusia counties.
Nicole made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane early Thursday morning and quickly weakened to a tropical storm.
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