California’s largest energy provider could conduct “safety power shutoffs” affecting over 7,000 polling locations in 17 counties on Election Day, in what many are calling blatant election interference.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) blamed weather conditions for upcoming energy blackouts “to approximately 15,000 customers in 17 counties and 3 tribal areas” set to start Tuesday at 7 p.m. into Wednesday, which they claimed should not affect election activities.
“As of 7 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 3), PG&E began notifications of a potential Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) that may shut off power for safety to approximately 15,000 customers in 17 counties and 3 tribal areas, with first outages on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the earliest, if weather conditions do not improve,” [emphasis ours] the company announced on its website Monday.
PG&E, which provides energy to northern and central California, described the PSPS areas are expected to have weather conditions favorable to wildfires, including low relative humidity, diminished moisture of vegetation and gusting winds.
The company said it worked with state and federal election officials to ensure the planned outages don’t affect voting, and identified “more than 7,000 Election Day polling locations in PG&E’s service area as well as 48 tabulation centers.”
🚨MAJOR UPDATE: 2024 Election
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) November 4, 2024
California PG&E Plans to Conduct ‘Public Safety Power-Outages” in 17 Counties, Starting on Election Day— Potentially Impacting 7,000+ Polling Locations
🔴 What’s Their Excuse?
“High winds” and need to mitigate fire risk
—— PG&E said the earliest… https://t.co/OVY1NK6rjj pic.twitter.com/ZZZ2lLOfPP
“No tabulation centers are currently in the scope of the PSPS,” [emphasis ours] the company wrote, adding, “We also verified that each of the 48 tabulation centers have backup generation.”
PG&E also said it identified two polling locations “in scope” of the PSPS, but stated they won’t be affected because the temporary blackouts are planned to start at 8 p.m., after polls have closed.
“We are staging temporary generation at both locations out of an abundance of caution,” the company stated.
Counties expected to be affected Tuesday are: Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Plumas, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus and Yolo.
Vice President of PG&E’s North Coast Region Dave Canny gave a video update Monday, saying, “We’ve been working with state and local officials actually for the last month or more to ensure that we can support free and fair elections, and I’m pleased to report that we’re well on our way to that,” before going on to note, “Uh, there is a Public Safety Power Shut off — potential Public Safety Power Shut off — in the forecast for Tuesday evening into Wednesday.”
“We’re supporting free and fair elections and we look forward to doing that tomorrow,” Canny concluded.
Despite the company’s reassurances, many online called shenanigans on the planned outages concerned they could possibly affect Election Day.
🚨MAJOR UPDATE: 2024 Election
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) November 4, 2024
California PG&E Plans to Conduct ‘Public Safety Power-Outages” in 17 Counties, Starting on Election Day— Potentially Impacting 7,000+ Polling Locations
🔴 What’s Their Excuse?
“High winds” and need to mitigate fire risk
—— PG&E said the earliest… https://t.co/OVY1NK6rjj pic.twitter.com/ZZZ2lLOfPP
They're going to cut the power in California on Election Day. On purpose. https://t.co/fbM17AOrcI
— HealthRanger (@HealthRanger) November 4, 2024
🚨 #BREAKING: ELECTION DAY POWER OUTAGE BLACKOUT PLANNED
— HustleBitch (@HustleBitch_) November 4, 2024
⚠️ Pacific Gas & Electric will shut off power on Election Day in 17 California counties
⚠️ Who are the largest shareholders of PG&E?
⚠️VANGUARD – BLACKROCK – STATE STREET
🚨The election is RIGGED! pic.twitter.com/qk1PDjerOk
ELECTION INTEGRITY: Things are so bad for Democrats they may have to shut down power on Election Day in California. Democrat policies or Democrat shenanigans – either way – vote these corrupt fools out of your lives! pic.twitter.com/N1jTEF9D4x
— @amuse (@amuse) November 4, 2024
Power Outages Planned for Election Day in California.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) November 4, 2024
Brought to you by @GavinNewsom and the leadership in Sacramento (all Democrats).
Stop voting for these people. https://t.co/m9dSCKpOXO
🚨BREAKING CALIFORNIA: Power Outages Threaten Election Day Voting in San Francisco, Bay Area 🚨
— World Peace Movement (@darren_stallcup) November 4, 2024
In a plot twist that could only happen in California, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E maintains an electricity monopoly in California) has announced mandatory power… pic.twitter.com/yNFgXy58C2
It remains to be seen whether the company will keep the lights on for voters, or if outages affect voting as many predict.