Some polling places in California could be affected by power outages that utilities are implementing in the coming days to reduce wildfire risks as dangerous winds whip up across the state.

But the state’s largest utilities say voting and counting should not be interrupted, given the emergency preparations underway, coordinated with local election officials.

More than 170,000 California customers could see power outages at some point this week as two back-to-back offshore wind events caused widespread power outages. red flag and fire weather warnings. These warnings will be in effect for some areas as early as Monday through Thursday.

As of Monday morning, 36 customers in Los Angeles County were out “due to increased fire risk,” Southern California Edison said. reported.

But this is just the beginning. Customers in the region — including about 35,000 each in Los Angeles, Riverside and Ventura counties and about 50,000 in San Bernardino County — could see outages Monday, and possibly Wednesday and Thursday, according to David Eisenhauer, an SCE spokesman.

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In Northern California, Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power to at least 15,000 customers in 12 counties Tuesday, mostly in Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Tehama counties, said Jeff Smith, a company spokesman. On Wednesday and Thursday, outages were considered likely in 17 counties due to “high winds and dry conditions.” PG&E reported.

Early voting continues Monday at polling places across the state, and on Tuesday, voters can voted in person at hundreds of polling stations. The verification and counting of ballots is expected to take at least several days, if not weeks.

Six early voting locations in Southern California may experience outages Monday, Eisenhauer said, but none are expected to halt operations.

“We know how important it is for our communities to exercise their right to vote,” Eisenhauer said. “We’ve been working with county governments to address any potential (shutdowns) using the county’s backup plans. … We have additional generators on standby if they need them.”

The company has no planned outages for Tuesday, when a break in wind is expected for the Southland, Eisenhauer said. He did not immediately know if any ballot processing centers could be affected later in the week, when more disruptions are possible.

In Northern California, two polling centers — one in Lake County and one in Santa Clara County — are in the zone considered for outages Tuesday, Smith said, but power is not expected to be out until after polls close. Regardless, he said, the company is working to make sure backup power generation is available for the two polling sites because wind conditions and plans are always subject to change.

“We’ll continue to monitor as long as the weather is there,” Smith said. He said the company is in constant communication with election officials and the two locations that may experience outages.

No vote processing centers were located in the area of ​​potential disruptions, Smith said.

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For Monday, much of the mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties remain under a red flag warning — an alert for extreme fire weather — due to strong Santa Ana winds and low humidity. North and northeast winds could reach up to 50 mph, with the strongest gusts in the higher elevations of the Simi Valley and San Fernando Valley.

Areas covered by the red flag warning “will be at greater risk of rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior should ignition occur”, Warning of the National Meteorological Service said.

By late Monday into Tuesday, winds are expected to calm in the Southland before forecasters call for a second wind event expected to hit northern California first.

For the Bay Area and Central Coast, a red flag warning will be in effect Tuesday through Thursday, with average gusts between 25 and 50 mph. National Weather Service meteorologists said it was expected to be a “long-duration offshore flow event” that would cause “rapid hardening” of brush and vegetation in the area, making it ripe for fire despite the rains recent.

By Wednesday and Thursday, those winds are expected to expand across much of Southern California, with a weather warning issued for the mountains of San Bernardino County, the Inland Empire and inland Orange County overnight Tuesday into Thursday. Much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties are under a similar warning Wednesday and Thursday.

“If fire ignition occurs, conditions are favorable for rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior that would threaten life and property,” the National Weather Service said, warning that winds Wednesday and Thursday could be more dangerous than early week, forecasting “even stronger Santa Ana winds and drier fuels.”

The mountains and foothills inland San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties will be under a red flag warning from Tuesday night through Wednesday.

San Diego Gas & Electric has not reported any areas of its turf that could see preemptive power outages.

After the fall, it was discovered that the power lines had started some in California the deadliest and the most destructive fires, The state’s three largest utilities have adopted a preventative strategy to try to avoid fires starting during high wind events. Utilities are proactively shutting down sections of their networks, a process known as public safety outages, in areas that officials have determined pose the highest risk of wildfires.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.