National security experts warn that extreme weather threatens elections this year

Billions of people around the world are expected to vote in elections this year. And some national security professionals warn that there's a growing threat to these elections — one on par with disinformation, foreign interference and even the threat of political violence.

We are talking about extreme weather.

Alice Hill is the former senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council. She and co-author Karen Florini recently wrote a piece in Foreign Affairs titled "How Climate Change Threatens Democracy."

Hill talks to All Things Considered host Scott Detrow about why she thinks democracy is at risk and what officials should be doing about it.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Scott Detrow: I just want to start off by clarifying here, we are not talking about a piece on climate change as an issue affecting voters and policies. We are talking here about the specific threat of extreme weather threatening the functionality of elections.

Alice Hill: Yes. There are many threats to elections, but this is one that's underappreciated.

Detrow: What got you thinking about this?

Hill: Watching what was happening in the news and appreciating that climate change makes wildfires worse, flooding worse, sea level rise — all of those things affect the ability of people to move, including to get to their polls and have their ballots counted.

Detrow: So you're arguing that extreme weather is a threat to democracy. I mean, those are pretty strong words. Can you explain what you're thinking?

Hill: When you step back and appreciate democracy, what is at its core? It's the right to vote. That's the most fundamental right each of us have in a democracy. If you can't cast a