Here’s how to cast your ballot, in person or by mail, if extreme weather disrupts your life. With just weeks to go until Election Day, Hurricane Helene has destroyed critical infrastructure and displaced thousands in North Carolina and several other states. State and local officials are scrambling to restore basic services. It’s still possible to vote if you live in western North Carolina. If a disaster strikes, the governor can extend voting deadlines, allow ballots to be forwarded to a new address, allow local officials to change or add new polling places, or postpone municipal elections. The U.S. Vote Foundation has a tool to access your county election office’s contact information. In the wake of a disaster, first confirm where you should be voting. Has your polling place been damaged or moved? Was your car damaged in a disaster? Need a ride to the polls? Early in-person voting is a useful option if you’d like to avoid lines on election day or will be out of town. Absentee voting is often called “mail-in voting” or “by-mail voting.” Every state offers this, but some require you to meet certain conditions, like having a valid excuse for why you can’t make it to the polls on election day. This guide describes these voting rules and policies for every state.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new national polling on Americans’ climate attitudes, climate change and energy policy as factors in the presidential race, and extreme weather + new statewide polling in Georgia and North Carolina.

While partisanship remains strong among the rural electorate, more than one-third (37%) of rural voters appear "swingable" in future elections, depending on resonant policy proposals and messaging. Three messaging points — lowering prices; bringing good-paying jobs to local communities; and a populist message focused on corporate greed — received such broad support that they rivaled voters’ agreement on core values like family and freedom. Read additional analysis in the Daily Yonder's coverage.

77%  of North Carolinians think the primary goal of the state’s energy policy should be achieving 100% clean energy and a majority (33% strongly; 38% somewhat) support the development of offshore wind farms. 70% of voters polled also believe the buildout of offshore wind along North Carolina’s coast would have a positive impact on jobs, the state’s economy, air quality and climate change.

Different parts of the country see various kinds of extreme weather as most concerning, perceptions which are largely in line with actual major disasters that have occurred in those regions. This report provides concern profiles for the 18 largest states, drawing on survey data from 2018 and 2019. Over half of Americans see such extreme weather events posting a high or moderate risk to their community in the coming decade, and two thirds see a climate link to US weather (though only a third think climate affects our weather "a lot").

Americans overwhelmingly support updating and strengthening the methane standards and regulations. Even after being shown balanced pro and con messaging, people support touger methane regulations by a nearly 5:1 margin. Curtailing leaks and releases of methane has broad support across all major demographics, including 2-to-1 support among Republicans.

Americans are worried about "triple threat" of hurricanes, COVID, & climate change. 52% of Black Americans and 49% of Latinos/Latinas say they are more worried about hurricane season this year amidst the pandemic. Half of adults in southeastern coastal states say they are more worried about hurricane season this year and 66% say addressing climate change should be a priority.

Millennials are broadly convinced human-induced climate change is real and deserves action, but millennial Republicans are relatively less concerned. 88% of millennials believe climate change is happening and 62% believe it is being driven by human activity. 69% think climate change will affect them in their lifetimes. 57% of millennials think the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction or is on the wrong track in addressing climate change.

75% of millennials say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who wants to transition the U.S. from fossil fuels to clean energy, but 44% of millennials do not see a difference between Clinton and Trump on this issue. 44% also prefer Clinton’s views on transitioning to clean energy; only 12% prefer Trump’s.