Emergency election changes approved to help voters in 13 Helene-damaged NC counties

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This story was first published by Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline
October 7, 2024

It will be easier for residents of 13 counties hardest hit by Hurricane Helene to cast absentee ballots this fall, as the state Board of Elections adopted a host of changes meant to help voters recovering from the disaster. 

The emergency resolution the state Board adopted unanimously on Monday included provisions meant to increase voter outreach, make it easier to request and return absentee ballots, and to allow for county elections officials to establish alternative voting locations to replace damaged or inaccessible polling places.  

All county elections offices are now open, state Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell told board members. 

After suggesting last week that hurricane disruptions could delay the start of early voting in some counties, Brinson Bell said Monday the intention for early voting to begin statewide as planned on Oct. 17. 

“We have every intention of starting early voting as scheduled on Thursday, Oct. 17  in all 100 counties,” Brinson Bell told reporters Monday afternoon. “It will go on.”

The emergency resolution applies to 13 counties:: Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey.

Paul Cox, one of the Board’s lawyers, said the infrastructure for conducting elections, accessibility of voting sites,  postal service, and transportation remain “severely disrupted” in these counties. 

“These measures will help eligible voters in the affected areas cast their ballot either in person or by mail,” Brinson Bell said. “They will help county boards of election in western North Carolina administer this election under extraordinarily difficult conditions.”

Voters from these counties will be able to request absentee ballots in person at their county board of elections office up until the day before the election. They will be able to return absentee ballots at polling places in their counties on Election Day, something that is usually not allowed. Voters, as usual, are able to hand in their ballots at county elections offices. The deadline is 7:30 pm on Election Day. 

To accommodate displaced voters who have moved temporarily from their home counties, the Board voted to allow residents of those 13 counties to return their absentee ballots to any North Carolina county elections office by the 7:30 pm Election Day deadline. 

To increase voter outreach, the “multiparty assistance teams” appointed by county boards to assist voters in nursing homes and hospitals will be able to work in shelters and other places where disaster relief is being provided to the general public, with the approval of bipartisan majorities of the county boards. 

Under the resolution, local boards of election in the 13 counties will be able to change early voting sites and hours as long as a bipartisan majority approves. The local boards will also be able to move Election Day polling places with bipartisan majority support. Out-of-precinct polling places can be established in neighboring counties adjacent to the precinct, with Brinson Bell’s approval. Out-of-precinct locations are to be considered as a last resort. 

The plan was developed in consultation with the counties. The North Carolina Division of Emergency Management is ready to deliver supplies, Brinson Bell said. 

Information on changes to voting locations will be sent to local media, posted on websites, in disaster relief locations and other places where people gather, Brinson Bell said. 

Elections officials won’t ask the legislature for any changes to election law to address voting hampered by Helene, but they will ask for about $2 million to help local elections offices. 

North Carolina is a battleground state where the presidential election could be decided by the thinnest of margins. Most of the counties hit hardest by Helene are solidly Republican. 

At the news conference, Brinson Bell pushed back at suggestions that the Board’s response to the disaster has been partisan or that she is partisan. 

“I hope that it is very clear to everyone today that that state Board acted in a nonpartisan manner,” she said. “I, as Executive Director, act in a nonpartisan manner. Our commitment at this state Board and at those county boards of election is to ensure that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot in this election no matter what county they’re in.”

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