As the 2025 hurricane season officially starts on June 1, Common Cause is encouraging Florida lawmakers to consider the effect hurricanes have on Floridians’ right to vote.

There are dozens of local elections in Florida this year, and several legislative special elections, including some scheduled to happen during the official hurricane season. Yet Florida does not have laws that ensure all voters affected by disasters have an equal opportunity to vote when their community is impacted. Which is why voting rights experts have been asking the Florida Legislature to act and ensure all disaster-affected voters receive the same support, regardless of what county they live in.

Earlier this year, Rep. Lindsey Cross and Sen. Tina Polsky filed bills (HB 1317 / SB 1486) that would ensure disaster-affected voters in Florida have immediate access to certain accommodations and support, as long as FEMA designates their county as eligible for disaster assistance or the Governor declares a state of emergency covering that county. House committees adopted several of these provisions into an Emergencies bill (HB1535) during the 2025 legislative session, but they were removed at the last minute because the Florida Senate did not include those provisions.

“It is common sense to make sure that voters in all counties affected by a disaster have the same opportunities to vote,” said Amy Keith, Common Cause Florida Executive Director. “My community in St. Petersburg is still feeling the effects of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. Hurricanes have lasting impacts on our communities, but we cannot sacrifice the people’s voice in their government as one of them. Election officials and voters in disaster-affected counties deserve clear and predictable support without delay in the aftermath of a storm.”

Some of the key provisions that should be available across disaster-affected counties to ensure all disaster-affected Florida voters have access to the ballot after an emergency include:

• the ability to request a vote-by-mail ballot be sent to a temporary address where they are staying, without having to submit a signed paper form,
• the ability to have their ballot forwarded by the U.S. Postal Service if they have provided a forwarding address,
• expanded days, times and locations for in-person Early Voting, including on Election Day itself, so that voters have centralized places to vote without having to make their way back to their specific assigned polling location, and
• clear, easily accessible information about election changes and voting options provided through all available means of communications, including on local, county and state emergency response websites.