Will rain affect voter turnout across the US? See the nationwide weather forecast

On November 1, 2024By Littum

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Election Day could be wet across a swath of the United States with a storm system affecting several states, including some battleground states in the Midwest.

By the morning of Tuesday, November 5, a storm system will affect the upper Midwest with a mix of rain and snow in Wisconsin, Minnesota and upper Michigan. This shield of precipitation will move northeast during the day into southern Canada as the polls close.

A frontal boundary will extend southwest across the Ohio River Valley into the Deep South, including Louisiana, with scattered showers and thunderstorms along that front.

Another system will move into the Pacific Northwest, but should only produce precipitation in Washington state.

Trump and Harris are neck and neck in the polls

Most of the country will experience calm weather conditions for voting this election day.

A 2024 ScienceDirect journal article showed that precipitation fell slightly in North Carolina’s personal polls during the past three presidential elections. Author Nick Turner noted that previous US and international studies also showed a drop in voter turnout on rainy days. However, Turner also said voters tended to use alternative voting methods, such as postal ballots and early voting, in elections after wet weather, leading to more votes in future elections.

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