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PG&E power lines in St. Helena.

Six Bay Area counties face possible power outages on Election Day and in the days following, PG&E reported on Sunday.

PG&E said the power outage was likely due to high winds and dry conditions forecast in those areas. Power outages are expected Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, Solanoand Santa Clara counties.

Other counties possibly affected in Northern California include:

PG&E said about 15,000 people could be affected in 17 counties and three tribal areas.

The Santa Clara County Clerk’s Office told KTVU they have backup generators to prevent power loss, but are also contacting PG&E for more information.

Sonoma County said they are working with their emergency management department to monitor the situation. According to officials, none of the voting centers in their county are expected to be affected by the closings.

The Santa Cruz County Registrar of Voters office said they are coordinating with PG&E, who know where their polling places are and are in regular contact with them for status updates.

Officials said many polling places have emergency generators and where they don’t, they will have backups available.

“Every election we develop an emergency services plan, so we already had things in place in the event of a power outage,” said a spokesman for the office.

The Solano County Recorder’s Office said they are prepared and have multiple layers of contingencies.

PG&E officials said they “have taken proactive steps to ensure reliable service to key polling units.”

“Although there are 7,000 Election Day polling places in PG&E’s service area and 48 tabulation centers, only one polling location — the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center in Lake County — has so far been identified as being in the application of PSPS potential. affected is Tuesday, November 5 at 9:30 p.m., after in-person voting has ended. PG&E is working to ensure backup generation is available at the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center out of an abundance of caution. Currently, no tabulation centers are within the scope of PSPS. To prepare for any non-PSPS power outages, we have organized additional teams. and emergency supplies in our service area All voter registration centers already have their own back-up generation.” PG&E said in a statement to KTVU.

PG&E said these shutdowns occur when forecasted extreme weather and other ground conditions bring an increased risk of wildfires.

Those conditions include low humidity, high winds, dry material on the ground, vegetation near power lines, red flag warnings from the National Weather Service and real-time observations from weather experts and ground crews, PG&E said.

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