LOS ANGELES — Some polling locations across California could be affected by power shutoffs that utilities implement over the next few days to reduce fire risks as dangerous winds pick up across the state.

But the state's largest utility companies say voting and vote counting should not be interrupted, given the emergency preparations that are in place, coordinated alongside local election officials.

More than 170,000 customers across California could see power shutoffs at some point this week, as two back-to-back offshore wind events have prompted widespread red flag and fire weather warnings. Those warnings are in effect for some areas as early as Monday through Thursday.

As of Monday morning, 36 customers in Los Angeles County had been shut off "due to heightened wildfire risk," Southern California Edison reported.

But that's just the start. Customers across the region — including about 35,000 each in Los Angeles, Riverside and Ventura counties and about 50,000 in San Bernardino County — could see shutoffs Monday, and possibly Wednesday and Thursday as well, according to David Eisenhauer, an SCE spokesperson.

In Northern California, Pacific Gas & Electric is considering power shutoffs for at least 15,000 customers across 12 counties Tuesday, the majority in Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Tehama counties, said Jeff Smith, a spokesperson for the utility. On Wednesday and Thursday, outages were considered likely across 17 counties due to "high winds and dry conditions," PG&E reported.

Early voting continues Monday at voting centers throughout the state, and on Tuesday, voters can cast their ballots in person at hundreds of polling locations. Verifying and counting ballots is expected to continue for at least a few days, if not weeks.

Six early voting locations in Southern California could see outages Monday, Eisenhauer said, but none should have their operations interrupted.

"We know how important it is that our communities exercise their right to vote," Eisenhauer said. "We've worked with county governments to address any potential [shutoffs] using the county backup plans. ...We have additional generators on standby if they need them."

The utility has no outages planned for Tuesday, when there is expected to be a break in winds for the Southland, Eisenhauer said. He didn't immediately know if any ballot processing centers could be affected later in the week, when more outages would be possible.

In Northern California, two polling centers — one in Lake County and another in Santa Clara County — are in the zone under consideration for shutoffs Tuesday, Smith said, but power is not expected to be cut until after polling closes. Regardless, he said, the utility is working to ensure backup generation is available for the two polling locations as 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 utility is in constant communication with election officials and the two locations that could see outages.

No ballot processing centers were located in the area of potential outages, Smith said.

For Monday, much of the Los Angeles and Ventura county mountains remain under a red flag warning — an alert for extreme fire weather — because of strong Santa Ana winds and low humidity. North and northeast winds could reach up to 40 to 50 mph, with the highest 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 for rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior if ignitions were to occur," the National Weather Service warning said.

By late Monday into Tuesday, the winds are expected to die down across the Southland before forecasters are calling for a second wind event, which is expected to hit Northern California first.

Across the Bay Area and Central Coast, a red flag warning will be in effect Tuesday through Thursday, with gusts averaging from 25 to 50 mph. National Weather Service forecasters said that this is expected to be a "long-duration offshore flow event" that will cause the "rapid curing" of brush and plants in the area, making them ripe for fire despite recent rainfall.

By Wednesday and Thursday, those winds are expected to expand into much of Southern California, with a fire weather watch issued for the San Bernardino County mountains, the Inland Empire and inland Orange County Tuesday night through 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 which would threaten life and property," the fire weather warning said. The National Weather Service warned that the winds Wednesday and Thursday could be more dangerous than earlier in the week, forecasting "even stronger Santa Ana winds and drier fuels."

The interior mountains and foothills in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties are under a red flag warning Tuesday evening through Wednesday.

San Diego Gas & Electric has not reported any areas in its turf that may see preemptive power shutoffs.

After downed power lines were found to have started some of California's deadliest and most destructive fires, the state's three largest utilities have adopted a preventative strategy to try to avoid sparking fires during powerful wind events. The utilities proactively de-energize sections of their network, a process known as public safety power shutoffs, in areas that officials have determined are at the highest risk for fire starts.

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