When Cliff Marr, the elections director for western North Carolina’s Polk County, learned of voters stranded in a remote area, he knew he needed to help. With no way for these residents to reach the local election office after Hurricane Helene destroyed the one bridge connecting their community to schools, the fire department, and other basic infrastructure, Marr decided he would go to them. Carrying about 100 applications for absentee ballots, he traveled to where the bridge once stood, descended to the riverbank, crossed a wood plank bridge, and climbed makeshift 40-foot scaffolding on the other side. Marr plans to return once the applications are filled out and make the trip twice after that.
Marr is not alone in his determination to ensure that eligible voters in the mountainous 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, damaging more than 126,000 homes and leaving 13,000 without power. In interviews, election officials and voters across the western stretch of the state described how, amid extraordinary challenges, they are all confronting a transformed voting landscape and stepping up to make the election run as smoothly as possible.
“We don’t know how much recovery there’ll be between now and November, but I know that they’re making every effort to determine that each precinct will have somewhere to vote, even if it’s putting up big tents,” said Joy Boothe, who cast her ballot on the first day of early voting in Yancey County, which sits northeast of Asheville.
An inclusive democracy demands resiliency from its election systems when natural disasters — even those of “biblical” proportions — strike. Despite the hurricane’s impact, western North Carolina voters will have multiple ways to cast a ballot in the upcoming election. This is in part due to long-standing voting laws and policies. It’s also a 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 disaster-stricken counties, state lawmakers have allocated $5 million to the state board of elections 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 that voters can cast ballots when problems arise. The state allows for multiple voting options. In addition to Election Day voting, North Carolina has allowed no-excuse absentee voting for decades and implemented in-person early voting almost 20 years ago.
Further, there is resiliency built into these processes. The week before the storm’s arrival, local election officials mailed out 190,000 absentee ballots. Voters can track their ballots’ status 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 for the surprising number of ballots damaged due to moisture. Displaced voters are requesting that absentee ballots be sent to their temporary residences. The state permits voters who lost their photo ID due to the storm to submit an exemption form instead. 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 disruption to normal operations. Of the 80 early voting sites planned for the 25 counties in the declared disaster area, only four in Buncombe County, home to Asheville, were unable to open. Two counties are expected to add early voting sites. Voters, too, are finding ways to get to the polls. On the first day of early voting, North Carolinians cast more than 353,000 ballots, surpassing the state’s previous record, set in 2020. Western North Carolina voters cast more than 225,000 in-person ballots in the first few days of early voting.
“I think my county government is doing everything they can within the parameters that they have to work under to give everyone an opportunity to vote,” said Matthew Baetzhold, a voter in Buncombe County. After learning that his regular polling place was closed, Baetzhold voted early at his local library instead.
Election officials and election workers continue to prioritize ensuring that every eligible person in their county can vote, even as recovery efforts continue. Boothe, the Yancey County voter, said her community is “experiencing the very worst of what can be experienced through the loss of friends, lives, homes.” She is stepping up to be a poll watcher at her local precinct.
“We hug and cry for a few minutes, then we go on. We just keep going,” Mary Beth Tipton, director of Yancey County’s board of elections, told us of her commitment to keeping the electoral process functioning.
“You are not taking my voice”
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 the hurdles faced by local election officials and voters still recovering. Among the changes, local officials can designate alternate or “out of precinct” polling places (including in a different county), adjust the days and hours of early polling places, and allow voters to return absentee ballots in counties other than the one where they live.
The state board is “always asking what do you need,” said Joseph Trivette, deputy director of Avery County’s board of elections.
The emergency resolutions are a lifeline for voters and election officials, many of whom have lost their homes or are temporarily displaced. “You might’ve taken my home, you might’ve taken everything I have, but you are not taking 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 few days of early voting.
The resolutions expand options for returning completed absentee ballots. They allow voters in affected counties to request and immediately receive absentee balloting materials in person rather than wait for them in the mail. For Marr, the ability to issue absentee balloting materials “over the counter” is critical. “The entire community is taking advantage of that,” he said.
With many residents uncertain of where they will be temporarily living or when they can return home, this option provides certainty that they can cast a ballot. Upon receiving the materials, some voters mark their ballots in the parking lot and immediately return them to the election office, according to Tipton. Counties are also allowed to task multipartisan assistance teams, which traditionally assist voters with disabilities living at care facilities, to expand assistance with requesting and casting absentee ballots to displaced voters. Voters in the affected counties have until 5 p.m. on November 4 to request an absentee ballot.
The emergency measures also provide more flexibility for Election Day voters. Disaster victims can vote at “central transfer precincts,” sites that will permit any eligible voter in the county to receive and cast a ballot.
“Flexibility is key,” said Matt Snyder, director of Watauga County’s board of elections. In some counties, “you have National Guard sleeping at night in the same place you are doing voting,” he added.
Officials we spoke with have sought to keep voting sites for affected precincts close to their original locations. In some areas, precinct consolidation was the only feasible option, but the counties are committed to informing voters about necessary changes.
In addition, the legislature’s $5 million in emergency funding, along with federal relief, is being used for election-related communications, such as mailing out voter education material, as well as improving access to technology and internet for county boards of elections, hiring temporary election staff, and securing necessary resources to facilitate in-person voting.
With Election Day around the corner, these election officials and voters are showing no signs of wavering.
“We are so united in grief and recovery,” Boothe said of her community in the wake of the hurricane. “There has been a lot of effort here [to make] sure people know when, how, where to vote.”
For any questions about voting, call 866-OUR-VOTE. For hurricane-related assistance, call the Federal Emergency Management Agency help line at 800–621–3362.
Arlyss Herzig contributed research.
