The Southeast is still reeling from Hurricane Helene. More than 190 people have died and many are still missing. It has been especially ruinous for Western North Carolina, where the storm brought catastrophic flooding that has cut many small Appalachian towns off from outside access. Many residents are still without water, electrical or internet access.
Helene also comes in the middle of a hotly contested election season. While Election Day isn’t for another month, a focus on November 5 obscures how elections are run in North Carolina. As of the morning of October 3, more than a quarter-million mail ballots have already been requested by voters in the Tarheel State. Of these, 40,000 were requested in one of the 25 counties designated as disaster areas by the federal government. North Carolina’s voter registration deadline is a week away and early in-person voting begins in just two weeks. In short, the election is already well underway in North Carolina.
Running an election is never easy, and doing so under emergency conditions is especially challenging. Currently, several of the election offices in North Carolina’s disaster counties are working to reopen. The officials in closed offices are likely unable to perform critical election tasks like processing voter registration applications or absentee ballot request forms, testing voting equipment, or training their poll workers. Further, many of the election workers themselves are likely experiencing hardships in the aftermath of the storm.
The impact on election administration is further complicated by the magnitude of the storm’s devastation. Homes and other buildings were toppled, displacing many localities’ voters and possibly demolishing early voting sites and polling places. Mailboxes and postal facilities may also have been damaged or destroyed and led to the loss of incoming and outgoing absentee ballots. Many roads and bridges are impassable, making it difficult for voters and election officials to access election offices and voting places, even if the building itself is still intact.
Federal and state elections are often held during hurricane season. As climate change continues to make storms of this nature more common, we will continue to see disruptions to our elections in the years to come. We are glad to see that North Carolina is taking steps to ensure that the elections run as smoothly as possible. That said, the state and federal government must move decisively and expeditiously to ensure that the 1.3 million registered voters in the state’s disaster area have access to a safe, secure and accessible election and that state and local election officials have the resources to support these voters.
Federal, State, and Local Coordination to Assess Needs and Provide Funding
The focus of state and federal officials during and immediately following a natural disaster understandably must be on protecting and saving lives. But when an election is imminent, soon thereafter officials should make election administration a top priority. Federal, state, and local officials must coordinate to assess the impact of the storm on elections personnel and infrastructure. Officials must then identify and provide the necessary support, resources and funding to ensure voters’ ability to participate in the electoral process is not diminished, and the security and integrity of that process is not compromised.
Assess, Communicate, and Implement Continuity of Operation Plans
Federal, state, and local officials must leverage their various resources to determine the safety and wellbeing of key elections personnel and the extent of damage to election offices, equipment facilities, and polling places. State and local election officials will require the engagement of emergency management officials at all levels of government. Critical election-related resources and materials must be safeguarded. Key election personnel will need assistance with quickly and safely continuing their critical election tasks. They must coordinate with other agencies that support various aspects of election administration, like the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Service, or even the Department of Justice.
Likewise, state and local law enforcement, information technology officials, or even funding appropriators must be available to listen to and support election officials’ concerns and needs. This open and collaborative dialogue between election officials and other government counterparts is crucial to the security of election processes. Ultimately, the core objectives are to ensure voters are not disenfranchised, and the election is administered in a safe, fair and secure manner.
Provide Emergency Funding
Elections are designated critical infrastructure by the federal government. Nevertheless, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not provide emergency funding for election administrators in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in 2018. It is imperative that the federal government provide resources to help the election run smoothly in North Carolina. Similarly, the state legislature should fund these emergency election operations. While there will be many financial demands on both the state and federal governments in the aftermath of Helene, funding for elections must be supplied.
Maximizing Safe In-Person Voting Options
Flexibility in an emergency is important. Voters must have options for voting so they can choose the safest one for them. Just as increasing access to mail voting while keeping an option for in-person voting was the right thing to do in the pandemic, providing flexible in-person voting options while preserving the option of mail voting will be important for North Carolina.
Our research shows that, when elections officials are able to keep polling places accessible, voters will find a way to participate. We studied the effects of Hurricane Michael in 2018 in the Florida Panhandle. That year, the governor issued an executive order allowing local election administrators to close some polling places and loosened some restrictions on mail voting. However, the counties received no emergency funding from state agencies to erect emergency polling places; without such support, they had little option but to close many polling places across the region. And where those polling places were closed, turnout declined precipitously. Where officials were able to keep polling places open, however, turnout hardly declined at all. If using a consolidated polling place is the most viable option, free and accessible transportation options should be provided to voters to minimize the burden of traveling to a voting site that may be much further away.
Erect Emergency Polling Places
The state should help local election officials maintain polling place locations as consistent as possible with historical polling place configurations. Voters become used to voting in the same place and finding creative ways to ensure that voting is as close to normal is crucial. Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, New York and New Jersey erected “mobile” polling places in RVs, 18-wheelers, and tents. Similarly, during the Covid-19 pandemic many election officials around the country erected outdoor voting options. This will demand resources from the state or federal government.
Combine Multiple Polling Places
Understanding that some locations are too devastated to allow for safe travel to the normal polling site, it may be advisable to combine the polling place of two or more voting precincts to a consolidated polling place in a safe area.
Suspend Voter Identification Laws
In North Carolina, voters are not required to present their photo identification to vote if an emergency occurs within 100 days of a disaster declaration. If a voter’s home is destroyed or damaged, they might very well lose their documents. Other states should consider adopting this excellent policy in emergency situations. The North Carolina State Board of Elections should ensure that affected counties have ample voter ID exemption forms on hand for early voting and on November 5. They should also provide guidance about how to prevent bottlenecks from leading to long lines should many voters need to use this exemption.
Preserving Mail Voting Options
Mail voting will still be important for North Carolina’s disaster victims. Many of these voters are now displaced and may not have the option of immediately returning to their homes. They may temporarily be residing in another part of their county, in another part of North Carolina, or even out of the state. As with in-person voting, state officials will need to offer flexible options.
Extend Ballot Receipt Deadlines
In many states, including North Carolina, mail ballots must be received by Election Day to count. However, in the aftermath of a disaster, there are often major disruptions to mail service. With Senate Bill 747, the North Carolina general assembly eliminated the 3-day grace period for receipt of voted absentee ballots. Prior to change, any ballot return envelope received by the county board of elections no later than three days after Election Day was counted as long as the envelope was postmarked by Election Day. It is possible that some of the 40,000 absentee ballots transmitted to voters prior to the storm have been lost in the devastation. Many of these absentee voters are disaster victims and will need time to determine their best option for voting in this election. They may ultimately request a replacement ballot and, if their unique and dire circumstance requires them to make this decision closer to the election, they will need ample time to receive and return their voted ballot. The state board of elections should work with the legislature to temporarily re-instate the 3-day grace period in affected counties.
Provide for Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes
The North Carolina legislature should sanction the use of drop boxes. Twenty-seven states currently permit ballot-return receptacles for voters using vote by mail options. These states have found that the use of drop boxes is a safe and trustworthy way to return a ballot when the election jurisdiction adopts rigorous security protocols to protect against fraud. Secure drop boxes can be placed at early voting sites, public facilities that are still in operation and accessible to voters, emergency operation facilities or even election day polling places.
Staffing and Voter Education
Ensure Adequate Poll Worker Capacity
Elections are run by volunteer poll workers. While poll workers are sometimes compensated for their service, the payment is often low and better characterized as a gesture of appreciation. Many of the individuals who have historically volunteered as poll workers may no longer be able to do so this year. The state may need to step in to provide higher wages to encourage new individuals to become poll workers in the aftermath of an emergency. Further, the state may need to allow residents of non-disaster counties to serve as poll workers in a county where they do not reside.
Communicate Changes Broadly and Through Multiple Forms of Media
Any changes to voting procedures — whether these are changes to polling place locations, to mail voting rules, or anything else — must be communicated to voters. Voters receive their information about voting from a variety of sources: local television news, social media, online news outlets, and more. Local election officials must work with the media and outside organizations to ensure that voters learn about these changes.
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The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene is profound, leaving behind a trail of shattered homes, lost lives, and disrupted communities. Yet, even in the midst of such turmoil, ensuring that every citizen can exercise their fundamental right to vote is paramount. This is not a matter of partisan debate — it is a constitutional imperative. Safeguarding our democracy demands immediate state, federal, and local coordination, the provision of emergency funding to restore both mail and in-person voting options, and flexibility to prevent the disenfranchisement of those hardest hit by the storm. It requires swift, bipartisan action to guarantee that the election is administered fairly, securely, and without further deepening the scars left in the wake of the disaster.
