Mapping Disasters and Responses during Elections

During the 2024 Election Supercycle year, extreme weather events affected national and subnational elections in 14 countries across all regions, including Bosnia & Herzegovina, India, Mexico, Senegal, Tuvalu, and the United States. Many of these incidents were exacerbated by climate change, disrupting activities at multiple stages of the electoral cycle, including voter registration, campaigning, voting operations, and the announcement of results.

In February, a storm and resulting high tides delayed the vote for the new Prime Minister in the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu. Newly elected members of parliament from outer islands were unable to travel to the capital for several weeks. In April, during the largest-ever-held election, extreme heat threatened campaigns and voters in large parts of India, resulting in dozens of heat-related deaths including among election officials. During the June EU elections, heavy rainfall affected voting operations in Styria, Austria, which resulted in polling stations being moved. In July, a record-breaking heatwave struck Mexico in the run-up to the general election. People were reported to have suffered heat sickness at polling places, and in some cases, voters left without casting ballots due to the heat. In October, local elections were postponed in five municipalities in Bosnia & Herzegovina. In September and October, Hurricane Helene and Milton struck less than five weeks before the US Presidential election, affecting several states, particularly North Carolina, with over 200 fatalities. In November, riverine flooding affected voters and election observers taking part in the Parliamentary election in Senegal.

International IDEA’s Election Emergency and Crisis Monitor (EECM) reflects the electoral challenges triggered by extreme weather, such as floods, hurricanes, heatwaves, wildfires, and other disasters, such as earthquakes and volcanic activity around the globe.

Key features of the dashboard include:

Comprehensive Coverage: The dashboard currently includes 65 country briefs dating from 2001 to 2024 that can be searched by country, year, region, election type (national, subnational, primary and referendum), and type of hazard (floods, severe storms and hurricanes, wildfires, heatwaves, winter weather, earthquakes, volcanic activity)

In-depth Analysis: Each country brief provides a concise overview of the disaster's impact on the country and its electoral process, detailing the event, its societal effects, connections to climate change, procedural and legal adaptations, and measures taken to safeguard electoral integrity, including voter turnout data where available.

Valuable Resources: The dashboard offers a bibliography of sources for further reading on each event, providing election stakeholders with essential references to deepen their understanding of the challenges and responses to disasters during elections. 

For more information visit the project page and press release.