Tropical Storm Marco forms in Caribbean, Tropical Storm Laura shifts south
By Devoun Cetoute August 21, 2020 11:53 PM
Tropical Storm Laura forms and could approach South Florida
Tropical Storm Laura formed in the Atlantic on Aug. 20 and could track toward South Florida by Aug. 24, according to the National Hurricane Center. By NOAA
A disorganized Tropical Storm Laura is forecast to menace Puerto Rico and Hispaniola on Saturday as it continues to track away from Florida. But while the mainland is out of the cone, the Florida Keys could feel tropical storm conditions on Monday.
Meanwhile, newborn Tropical Storm Marco was born late Friday.
Both storms, if they survive their journey through the Caribbean, could threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast next week. Marco could be heading for Texas while Laura could menace Louisiana and Mississippi.
Early Saturday, the Dominican Republic issues a tropical storm warning for the southern coast. And the Bahamas upgrade its watch to a warning for the southeastern chain of islands.
Marco has 40 mph maximum sustained winds with higher gusts and is about 180 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico. It’s headed north-northwest at 13 mph.
The latest track shows it approaching the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on Saturday. The center will cross the northeastern part of the Yucatan Saturday night and move over the central Gulf of Mexico toward Sunday and Monday.
The storm is no longer forecast to reach a category 1 hurricane, but could still possibly see strengthening.
“Marco is embedded within an environment that could support a fast rate of strengthening,” forecasters said. “However, recent microwave data does not indicate that the system has developed an inner-core, and only gradual strengthening is likely until it does.”
Marco is moving toward the Yucatan Peninsula and is forecast to get there on Saturday.
NHC Tropical Storm Laura
Tropical Storm Laura formed in the Atlantic Friday morning, and by 11 p.m. was found to be quite disorganized. It is expected to move across much of the Greater Antilles this weekend.
Laura was about 195 miles east-southeast of San Juan, according to the 11 p.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center. It has 45 mph maximum sustained winds with higher gusts and is traveling west-northwest at 18 mph.
The forecast track for Laura has again shifted farther south, which is now showing mainland Florida not in its path but only a portion of the Florida Keys. This shift south has also put more of Cuba its path.
Forecasters say the center of Laura will move near or over portions of the Leeward Islands Friday night, near or over Puerto Rico Saturday morning and near the northern coast of Hispaniola Saturday night and early Sunday.
Tropical Storm Laura has become quite disorganized and is expected to move across much of the Greater Antilles this weekend as its path has again shifted further south, forecasters say. NHC Monroe County declared a State of Local Emergency and ordered the evacuations of all live-aboard vessels, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, travel trailers, and campers in anticipation of the storm.
Miami city officials advised residents to be prepare for any potential storm impacts over the weekend. While the latest forecast does not show Miami in Laura’s path, the situation can easily change, said Mayor Francis Suarez.
“All preparation measures need to be wrapped up and buttoned up by Sunday evening,” said Suarez during an afternoon press conference.
The mayor said city crews have inspected storm water pump stations, and all are operating, and the city has contracts prepared to distribute ice and water if it becomes necessary.
Watches/Warning for tropical storms Laura, Marco
Tropical Storms Laura and Marco have caused a slew hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings.
Marco has led to a hurricane watch from Punta Herrero to Cancún, Mexico, and a tropical storm warning from Punta Herrero to Dzilam, Mexico.
The storm is also forecast to produce three to six inches of rain in eastern portions of Quintana Roo and the Yucatan, which may result in flash floods. Northeast Nicaragua and the Cayman Islands are also forecast 1 to 2 inches of rain.
Laura has caused many warnings to be activated in the Caribbean.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, the northern coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the border with Haiti, the northern coast of Haiti from Le Mole St. Nicholas to the border with the Dominican Republic, and the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
A tropical storm watch is in effect for the central Bahamas.
Laura is expected to produce 3 to 6 inches of rain over Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, the southern Haitian Peninsula and eastern Cuba through Sunday.
It could also produce up to 8 inches of rain along eastern portions and the southern slopes of Puerto Rico, as well as over Haiti, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba. This heavy rainfall could lead to flash and urban flooding, as well as an increased potential for mudslides with minor river flooding in Puerto Rico.
The Leeward Islands, the Turks and Caicos and the southeast Bahamas are projected to see 1 to 3 inches of rain with isolated maximum totals of 5 inches.
What about the other wave in the Atlantic?
The third wave is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms near the Africa coast.
Forecasters said “some slow development is possible during the next couple of days” as it moves across the eastern tropical Atlantic. They gave it a 20% chance of organizing into a tropical cyclone in the next five days.
The next storm name on the list is Nana.
Tropical Storm Laura has become quite disorganized and is expected to move across much of the Greater Antilles this weekend as its path has again shifted further south, forecasters say. NHC
Pompeo Pushes Haiti President on Elections, Rights
By ReutersAug. 16, 2020
The New York Times
(Reuters) - It is "critical" that Haiti hold a delayed vote and strengthen the rule of law and human rights, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told President Jovenel Moise on Sunday at a meeting after more than six months of rule by decree in the Caribbean nation.
Haiti has been without a parliament since January after missing a deadline to hold legislative elections. Moise has yet to set a date for new elections.
"It is critical that Haiti schedule its overdue legislative elections, form an inclusive (electoral council), and strengthen rule of law and support for human rights. These are key elements of the democratic process," Pompeo said in a tweet after the meeting.
Moise also said the conversation had focused on the organization of the election.
"Like me, our American partners believe that elections remains the ideal way for democracy to survive," Moise tweeted.
The two men met at the inauguration of Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader.
On Friday, Acting Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak told reporters that although Washington recognized that there were difficulties in organizing elections in Haiti, the president should move ahead with laying groundwork.
"We're trying to build a little bit of a fire there," Kozak said. "If you're going to have a democracy, that means all three branches of the democracy need to be in place. It can't just be one or two."
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
US ELECTIONS
You don't need the U.S. Postal Service to deliver your mail-in ballot
Many American voters are caught between competing concerns regarding the fall presidential election, as they weigh fears about the public health risks of voting in person against growing alarm about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver a mail-in ballot on time.
Worries about the Postal Service have mounted in recent days after President Trump said he might oppose funding the agency to stop Americans from voting by mail. And on Friday it was revealed that the Postal Service recently warned 46 states and the District of Columbia that it may not be able to deliver all mail-in ballots on time.
That comes after a few weeks of reports about the recently installed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — a wealthy Trump donor with potential financial conflicts of interest in the mail industry — making changes to the Postal Service that arealready causing a slowdown in mail delivery.
But there are ways to vote by mail without having to rely on the Postal Service to return your ballot. You could call it a hybrid process of receiving a ballot early through the mail and then returning it in person, before Election Day.
The Postal Service is the only way to receive an absentee or mail-in ballot in most states.
But voters do not have to use the Postal Service to send in their mail-in ballot. In other words, voters have a few options to return those ballots before Election Day without having to stand in line or worry about their vote being delivered too late to count.
One option available in most states is to fill out a mail-in ballot and deliver it to your local election office. Most states organize their local elections by county. But voters can go on their state Board of Elections or secretary of state website and look for a list of local election offices.
A second option is to take your mail-in ballot to an early voting site. There are only five states that as of now don’t have an in-person early voting period this fall, according to a database compiled by the Voting Rights Lab, a group dedicated to increasing voter participation. Those states are Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina.
But again, the specific days for early voting vary by state, so the best way to figure out when and where you can vote in person at an early voting site is to go to your state election website.
The added bonus of going to an in-person early voting site is that if you are not a registered voter yet — and you don’t have a ballot yet — in 21 states you can register the same day you vote.
A third option to bypass the U.S. Postal Service is to use a drop box. This is a secure receptacle in which you can deliver your completed mail-in ballot.
Drop boxes are a relatively recent development and were initiated by the states that started conducting their elections entirely by mail over the last 10 to 20 years.
Washington state has tracked drop box usage since the 2012 election. In that year, just over a third of all ballots returned came in through secure drop boxes. In 2016, drop boxes accounted for almost two-thirds of all returned ballots.
There are variations of secure drop boxes, with some available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, monitored by video surveillance. Others are available only during certain hours of the day and monitored by election workers. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has guidance on drop boxes that recommends one box for every 15,000 to 20,000 registered voters, and to start publicizing the locations of these drop boxes about 80 days ahead of the election.
The presidential election on Nov. 3 is 80 days away as of today.
Some states are on schedule. Michigan, for example, a key swing state that could decide the presidential election, will have over 900 drop boxes available to voters and has a published list of the location of every drop box, which you can see by clicking here. Michigan is one of the five states that do not have in-person early voting, but by requesting a mail-in ballot and then returning it to a drop box, voters have access to a modified form of in-person early voting,starting 45 days before Election Day.
North Carolina, another swing state, does not have drop boxes. But a spokesman for the state Board of Elections, Patrick Gannon, said, “North Carolina law allows for absentee-by-mail ballots, if not mailed, to be dropped off at the county Board of Elections or at any One-Stop early voting site in the county.”
“Most counties have multiple early voting sites,” Gannon said.
Voters in some states can have another person deliver their mail-in ballot for them. But state laws vary on whether this is allowed and, if it is, it’s often restricted to close relatives or legal guardians. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia allow anyone to return ballots on behalf of voters, according to the Voting Rights Lab. Voters should consult their state election website for specifics on this particular question.
Marc Elias, a Democratic attorney who is overseeing much of the litigation to ensure more access to voting, wrote on his blog on Friday that “community organizations in states that allow ballot collection should consider setting up their own drop boxes now.”
“Local libraries, church groups and civic associations should explore setting up secure ballot drop boxes. There may even be a role for businesses to play in preserving our right to vote through drop box placement and security,” Elias wrote. “While we all prefer that states take on this important role, we cannot let democracy suffer at the hands of state inaction or presidential intimidation.”
Mike Ricci, a spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, said this state has 127 drop boxes but is working on getting more.
Arizona, which already conducts about 80 percent of its voting by mail, has drop boxes, but the secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, does not have a statewide list of locations, a spokeswoman said. Voters need to consult their county election office for drop box locations.
But in other swing states, Republicans are taking steps to block drop boxes. In Ohio, for example, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said this weekhe would limit drop boxes to one per county. And in Pennsylvania, President Trump sued election officials in the state on June 29 to, in part, stop them from using drop boxes in the fall election. That litigation is still pending.
