Potential rain impact on election day

We're in for a wet election day tomorrow and there's some evidence weather has impacted voter turnout in previous elections. So could it shift the results tomorrow? Fox 9's Corin Hoggett is at the Capitol in the elements tonight. And so Corin, when it rains, how does that impact election day? Kelsey and Randy, it shows that through research that the rain can have some impact. In fact, throughout the years, it's definitely impacted a lot of elections by suppressing voter turnout. And there is also some evidence that it may have flipped a couple presidential elections. Umbrellas dotted the 45-minute line to vote early in St. Paul Monday, and voters will probably need to take cover again on Tuesday to cast their ballots. Historically, that's been bad news for turnout on one side of the aisle. Because there used to be this argument also that said, well, that what, Democrats are more what, fair weather voters, Republicans are more hardcore. Three political science professors studied the impact of precipitation in presidential elections between 1940 and 2000. They found an inch above the usual rainfall decreased turnout by a little less than 1%. That may not sound like much, but in fact, in our simulations, we found that in numerous close elections, weather could have been determinative of the outcome. Small changes in the weather could have completely altered American history. Florida State's Dr. Brad Gomez says the research found Richard Nixon might have beaten JFK with worse weather on Election Day in 1960. And Al Gore could have beaten George W. Bush in 2000 if it wasn't for rain in the Florida panhandle. But Hamlin's Dr. David Schultz studied the impacts in Minnesota and didn't find any. Maybe we're just a hardy group. But weather doesn't seem to affect our turnout very much whatsoever. In fact, Minnesota's biggest midterm election turnout came in 2018, a year it rained and snowed across the state. Early voting has also become commonplace since 2000, reducing the chances for weather to change history. Only about a third of American voters these days are voting on election day. And so that leaves fewer people to be affected by election day weather. Chulson Gomez agreed that extreme weather events on election day, like say a blizzard here in Minnesota or even just snow in Atlanta, could actually suppress voter turnout. But if it's just run of the mill rain like we're having right now, it's probably just going to mean more umbrellas. Live in St. Paul, Corin Hoggett, Fox 9.