Published on October 5, 2024, 5:06 p.m.
Bad weather could play a decisive role in the next presidential election in the United States.
Voting is underway for one of the world’s most important elections of the year.
More than a hundred million Americans will decide by November 5 whether they will make Vice President Kamala Harris the first woman to lead the United States, or return former President Donald Trump to the White House for a new four-year term.
Weather can play a significant role in the outcome of elections. Here’s a look at how extreme weather, Hurricane Helene and myriad other factors could act as a deciding vote in the race.
TO HAVE : Seven times the weather unexpectedly changed the course of history
Why the weather can swing a US election
How can the weather affect the outcome of the presidential race when the United States is such a large country? U.S. presidential elections are won and lost at the state level rather than through a national popular vote.
The election is decided by a complex system known as Electoral College. There are 538 electoral votes distributed proportionally among the 50 states and Washington, DC. With few exceptions, the candidate who wins a state receives that state’s electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
This process gives outsized importance to a handful of swing states across the country, where polls show the results could end up by a razor-thin margin in either case. The key swing states for the 2024 elections are widely considered to be Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.