For Some in Florida Panhandle, Voting Takes Back Seat to Hurricane Hardships

A man walks to use a voting booth March 1, 2016, at one of the Virginia primary election polling stations at Colin Powell Elementary School, in Centreville, Va. Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

PANAMA CITY, Fla.—Sissy Karr, a landlady with 14 rental properties around Panama City, Florida, is a loyal Republican who voted for Donald Trump for president in 2016. But she says she is too busy cleaning up from Hurricane Michael to vote in the Nov. 6 elections.

Many of her rental units remain badly damaged from the storm, which struck less than a month ago with roof-ripping force, leaving Karr, 55, and countless others like her with a seemingly insurmountable amount of work to do.