North Carolina’s election battleground starts early with in-person voting while Helene recovers

ASHEVILLE, NC — In-person voting was expected to begin statewide Thursday in North Carolina’s presidential battleground, including in mountainous areas where thousands of potential voters still lack power and clean running water after Hurricane Helene’s epic flooding.

More than 400 locations in all 100 counties were expected to open Thursday morning for the 17-day early voting period, Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said this week. Only four of the 80 locations in the 25 western provinces hardest hit by the storm will not open.

“We have lost only a few — despite extensive damage, loss of power, water, internet and phone service, and washing out of roads across the region,” said Brinson Bell, who praised emergency officials, utility companies and election workers . “It is an effort that all North Carolina residents should be proud of.”

Helene’s arrival in the Southeast three weeks ago decimated remote towns in Appalachia and killed at least 246 people, including just over half of the storm-related deaths in North Carolina. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Katrina in 2005.

Early in-person voting, which continues through Nov. 2, is very popular in North Carolina. In the 2020 general election, more than 3.6 million ballots – 65% of all ballots cast – were cast this way. In the 2016 election, 62% of all votes cast were cast during early in-person voting.

Brinson Bell said she didn’t expect a decrease in the number of voters casting ballots early. Instead, she said, it was possible the figure could increase because some voters in storm-affected areas may not want to wait for Election Day. Early in-person voting also allows someone to register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time.

Absentee voting in North Carolina began a few weeks ago, with more than 60,000 ballots completed so far, election officials said. People displaced by Helene may drop off their absentee ballot at any early election location in the state.

The importance of early voting was not lost during the presidential campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz was scheduled to campaign in Winston-Salem and Durham, where he would be joined by former President Bill Clinton.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Mississippi U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley are expected to appear on the “Team Trump Bus Tour” when it resumes Thursday in Rutherford County , which was among the worst affected areas. areas.

The North Carolina ballot also includes races for governor, attorney general and several other statewide positions. All seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the General Assembly are also up for re-election.

County election boards have been given the flexibility to customize early voting locations, including locations and their daily hours. In Buncombe County, which includes the Asheville region’s population center, a city devastated by the storm, 10 of the 14 planned early voting locations will be open.

In Watauga County, home to Boone and Appalachian State University, the board adjusted early voting hours to avoid evening travel for voters and poll workers. They also expanded voting options on weekends.

Watauga Elections Director Matt Snyder said Wednesday that having all six locations ready by Thursday was a feat his office did not expect in the immediate aftermath of Helene. But election officials have been working weekends to prepare.

“It’s exhausting,” Snyder said. “These are sixteen-hour days… but everyone seems to participate.”

Officials in the 25 counties affected by the storm were still evaluating polling locations on Election Day, with the “vast majority” expected to be available to voters, Brinson Bell said.

This is the first general presidential election that will require voters in North Carolina to show a photo ID. Someone who has lost their ID due to the storm can fill out an exception form.

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Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; and Christine Fernando of Chicago contributed to this report.