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Jacob OglesNovember 12, 2018

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Bay County Supervisor of Elections Mark Andersen confirmed to Florida Politics that his office accepted more than 140 vote-by-mail ballots by fax machine or email, despite an executive order explicitly prohibiting the practice. “This office’s job is to ensure voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots,” Andersen explained. The elections official confirmed his office spoke […]

Jacob OglesNovember 12, 2018

Elections officials in Bay County, a Republican stronghold recently battered by Hurricane Michael, accepted votes via email. The catch: That’s counter to state law. NBC-7 WJHG interviewed Bay County Supervisor of Elections Mark Andersen about how he dealt with voters displaced by Hurricane Michael. Andersen said he worked with 147 voters who returned ballots by […]

Jacob OglesNovember 5, 2018

Early voting will continue up to the day before Election Day in six counties still recovering from Hurricane Michael. Polling locations remain open in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, and Jackson counties, all of which sustained major damage. The state extended the early-voting deadline in those counties. Secretary of State Ken Detzner, Florida’s chief elections […]

Staff ReportsOctober 24, 2018

Gulf Power has beaten its estimate for returning electric power to 95 percent of its customers in the Hurricane Michael disaster zone by about 30 hours, the company announced Wednesday. That required rebuilding “a significant portion” of its grid in Bay County, where the company serves 103,000 customers, including more than 6,800 distribution poles. Following […]

Drew WilsonOctober 23, 2018

There’s light at the end of the tunnel for the thousands of utility workers who have pitched in on Gulf Power’s efforts to get service restored in the Florida Panhandle, but for the many homes and businesses destroyed by Hurricane Michael fixing the grid won’t fix the problem. Michael left hundreds of thousands without power […]

Drew WilsonOctober 17, 2018

Gulf Power told its customers in in Jackson and Holmes counties north of I-10 who lost power due to Hurricane Michael that it would get their lights back on by midnight Thursday. On Wednesday, it announced it had hit that mark a day early. As of 5 a.m. CDT Wednesday, the company said it had restored […]

Drew WilsonOctober 16, 2018

Utility company Gulf Power said Tuesday that it had gotten the lights back on for more than 70,000 customers, more than half the number who lost power when Hurricane Michael tore through the Panhandle last week. “We’ve added even more boots on the ground, and we’re concentrating our efforts in our hardest hit areas,” said Adrianne Collins, […]

Scott PowersOctober 15, 2018

The numbers of homes and businesses without electricity was cut by more than half over the weekend to 168,000 with power restored to many in Leon and Bay counties but 11 central Panhandle counties still have major outages five days after Hurricane Michael, with several still more than 80 percent dark Monday morning. The latest […]

Drew WilsonOctober 15, 2018

Panhandle utility company Gulf Power announced Sunday evening that all of its Panama City Beach customers west of Highway 79 have been restored. The company said the announcement represents power restoration to more than 10,000 customers living in that area of the city, which was one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Michael. The update came a […]

Jacob OglesOctober 14, 2018

Gov. Rick Scott on Sunday said a request for transitional sheltering assistance has been approved for Bay County. The news means the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide more options for places for families to stay, including hotel rooms, for individuals displaced by Hurricane Michael. “They’ll begin accepting applications tomorrow,” Scott said on social media. […]

Tag: Bay County

Bay County supervisor unilaterally accepted votes by fax, email

Bay County accepted ballots through email—which state law doesn’t allow: report

Six storm-struck counties extend early voting to Monday

Gulf Power beats own deadline for turning lights back on

Gulf Power gives $200K to Michael relief as grid work nears finish line

Gulf Power outpaces its own power restoration timetable in Jackson, Holmes

Gulf Power crosses halfway mark in power restoration effort

Power outages limited to 11 counties in Hurricane Michael’s wake

Gulf Power crews making inroads to Panama City Beach outages

Rick Scott says transitional shelter assistance available in Bay County