Deadly Roswell flood knocked out a polling site, in reminder of climate change's threats to voting

ROSWELL – When a deadly, record-breaking storm inundated Roswell earlier this month, it not only wrecked homes and businesses, it knocked an Election Day voting center out of commission.

The city’s convention hall was waterlogged and covered in mud. That sent Chaves County Clerk Cindy Fuller in search of a new polling site for Nov. 5, which requires a judge’s permission. Fifth Judicial District Judge Dustin Hunter signed off on the request, and now voting will take place at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church instead of the Roswell Convention and Civic Center.

“We wanted to keep it basically in the same area,” Fuller said.

Early voting was already underway throughout the state, and the convention center wasn’t being used for that. But a disaster just weeks before the final day of voting has become a stark reality in New Mexico and beyond, to the threats climate change poses to the right to cast a ballot.



https://sourcenm.com/2024/10/29/deadly-roswell-flood-knocked-out-a-polling-site-in-reminder-of-climate-changes-threats-to-voting/