When Cliff Marr, elections director for Polk County in western North Carolina, learned that voters were stranded in a remote area, he knew he needed to help. Since these residents had no way to get to the local elections office after Hurricane Helene destroyed the only bridge connecting their community to schools, the fire department and other basic infrastructure, Marr decided to turn to them. With about 100 absentee ballot requests, he traveled to where the bridge once stood, descended to the riverbank, crossed a wooden plank bridge and climbed a 40-foot makeshift scaffolding on the other side. Marr plans to return once applications are completed and make the trip twice afterward.

Marr is not alone in his determination to ensure that eligible voters in the mountain region can still vote. The hurricane made landfall in North Carolina three weeks before the start of early voting and just over a month before Election Day. harmful more than 126,000 homes and departure 13,000 without electricity. In interviews, election officials and voters across the western stretch of the state described how, amid extraordinary challenges, everyone is facing a transformed election landscape and stepping up to make the election run as smoothly as possible.

“We don’t know how much recovery there will be between now and November, but I know they are doing everything they can to determine that every precinct will have a place to vote, even if it means putting up big tents,” Joy said. Boothe, who cast her ballot on the first day of early voting in Yancey County, located northeast of Asheville.

An inclusive democracy requires endurance of their electoral systems when natural disasters – even those in “biblical” proportions – strike. Despite the impact of the hurricane, voters in Western North Carolina will have multiple ways to cast their ballot in the upcoming election. This is partly due to long-standing electoral laws and policies. It is also the result of state officials approving bipartisan changes to give voters more options and election officials more flexibility. In addition to Federal Emergency Management Agency Funding For counties affected by disasters, state lawmakers have allocated $5 million to the state elections board for voting in the region.

Existing infrastructure bolsters North Carolina’s defenses

Long before Hurricane Helene, North Carolina’s election rules and policies provided safeguards to ensure voters could cast their ballots when problems arose. The state allows multiple voting options. In addition to Election Day voting, North Carolina has allowed no-excuse absentee voting for decades and implemented early in-person voting nearly 20 years ago.

Furthermore, these processes incorporate resilience. The week before the storm hit, local election officials mailed 190,000 absentee votes. Voters can track the status of your ballots to help identify any mail delays, which may be caused by damaged or destroyed mailboxes and postal facilities. If they suspect a delay, they can request a replacement. Counties are finding that replacement ballots are being requested due to the surprising number of ballots damaged due to moisture. Displaced voters are requesting that absentee votes be sent to their temporary residences. The state allows voters who lost their photo ID due to the storm to submit an exemption form. Voters in the affected counties returned more than 15,000 absentee ballots during the first week of early voting.

Early in-person voting is also underway despite some disruptions to normal operations. Of the 80 early voting sites planned for the 25 counties in the declared disaster area, only four in Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, were unable to open. Two counties are expected to add early voting sites. Voters are also finding ways to get to the polls. On the first day of early voting, North Carolinians cast more than 353,000 votessurpassing the state’s previous record, set in 2020. Western North Carolina voters cast more than 225,000 in-person ballots in the first days of early voting.

“I think my county government is doing everything they can within the parameters they have to work under to give everyone the opportunity to vote,” said Matthew Baetzhold, a Buncombe County voter. After learning that her usual polling place was closed, Baetzhold voted early at her local library.

Election officials and poll workers continue to prioritize ensuring that all eligible people in their county can vote, even as recovery efforts continue. Boothe, the Yancey County voter, said her community is “experiencing the worst that can be experienced through the loss of friends, lives and homes.” She is becoming an election observer in her local district.

“We hugged and cried for a few minutes, then we moved on. “We just keep going,” Mary Beth Tipton, director of the Yancey County Board of Elections, told us about her commitment to keeping the election process running.

“You are not going to take my voice away”

Faced with unprecedented devastation across half the state, the North Carolina State Board of Elections and the state legislature implemented emergency measures in the counties most affected by the hurricane. These measures are crucial to addressing obstacles faced by local election officials and voters still recovering. Among the changes, local officials can designate alternative or “out-of-precinct” polling locations (including in a different county), adjust the days and hours of early voting locations, and allow voters to return absentee ballots. in counties other than the one in which they voted. live.

The state board “always asks what you need,” said Joseph Trivette, deputy director of the Avery County board of elections.

Emergency resolutions are a lifeline for voters and election officials, many of whom have lost their homes or are temporarily displaced. “They may have taken my house, they may have taken everything I have, but they won’t take my voice,” Tipton said. These efforts have not been in vain. Yancey County is one of 22 counties in western North Carolina that have seen record turnout in the first days of early voting.

The resolutions expand options for returning completed absentee ballots. They allow voters in affected counties to immediately request and receive absentee voting materials in person rather than waiting for them in the mail. For Marr, the ability to issue “window-less” absentee voting materials is critical. “The whole community is taking advantage of that,” he said.

Since many residents do not know where they will temporarily live or when they will be able to return home, this option gives them certainty that they can vote. Upon receiving materials, some voters mark their ballots in the parking lot and immediately return them to the elections office, according to Tipton. Counties can also task multiparty assistance teams, which traditionally help voters with disabilities living in care facilities, to expand assistance in requesting and casting absentee ballots to displaced voters. Voters in affected counties have until 5 pm on November 4 to request an absentee ballot.

The emergency measures also give voters more flexibility on Election Day. Disaster victims can vote at “central transfer precincts,” sites that will allow any eligible voter in the county to receive and cast their ballot.

“Flexibility is key,” said Matt Snyder, director of the Watauga County Board of Elections. In some counties, “you have the National Guard sleeping at night in the same place where you are voting,” he added.

Officials we spoke to have tried to keep voting sites in affected precincts close to their original locations. In some areas, congressional district consolidation was the only feasible option, but counties are committed to informing voters of any necessary changes.

Additionally, the legislature’s $5 million in emergency funding, along with federal aid, is being used for election-related communications, such as mailing voter education materials, as well as improving access to technology and to the Internet for county boards of elections, hiring temporary election staff and securing the resources necessary to facilitate in-person voting.

With Election Day right around the corner, these election officials and voters show no signs of wavering.

“We are very united in grief and recovery,” Boothe said of his community after the hurricane. “A lot of efforts have been made here (to ensure) that people know when, how and where to vote.”

If you have any questions about voting, please call 866-OUR-VOTE. For hurricane-related assistance, call the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s helpline at 800–621–3362.

Arlyss Herzig contributed to the research.