What to know about how Helene’s aftermath is affecting voting in western North Carolina

By MAKIYA SEMINERA The Associated Press

HOT SPRINGS, N.C. (AP) — In one of the critical states that could decide who takes the presidency in November, election workers and voters in the western part of North Carolina are still having to balance their recovery from Hurricane Helene’s devastation with holding elections.

There has been a lot to adapt to. Sometimes election workers must share space with first responders or hurricane relief volunteers. For voters, they have to navigate travel detours from storm damage and search for election information, often without reliable cell or internet services.

Some of those challenges were on full display in Buncombe and Madison counties when North Carolina’s early voting kicked off last week. Communities in Buncombe, a reliably Democratic-leaning county; and Madison, a consistently Republican-leaning one, are still reeling from Helene’s destruction , including issues such as power outages, wrecked roads and a lack of clean water. Overall, though, elections officials say they’re seeing positive signs of how early voting is unfolding in the mountain counties and statewide.

Here are some key takeaways from early voting preparation and voter perspectives in two western North Carolina counties.

Elections officials deal with damage, communications issues after Helene

A few of western North Carolina’s 80 early voting sites couldn’t open after the storm. One of them was the Hot Springs Community Center in Madison County, which was ruined by flooding. Officials settled on the Hot Springs Senior Meal Site as the town’s new early voting location, which meant poll workers who had worked out of the community center before needed to adjust to the new setting.

One of the main questions voters have had for the Madison County Board of Elections has been about where polling places are located, elections director Jacob Ray said. The office phones haven’t worked over the past few weeks, making it harder to communicate with voters.

But Ray said the election work is going well so far, given the destruction in downtown Hot Springs and Marshall, two of the county’s central towns. All of the county’s poll workers, about 70 of them, are still scheduled and available to work through the election, he said.

Statewide record turnout for first day of early voting

Despite complications from Helene, voters set a statewide record for the first day of voting, with more than 350,000 ballots cast, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Nearly a week later, more than 1.3 million early in-person and mailed ballots had been cast.

In Hot Springs, a town of about 500 people, the early voting polling place’s lead, Dean Benfield, said they had a “big day,” with more than 50 voters casting ballots.

“Normally on the first day, and I’m just gonna tell you, we might wind up with four voters, we might wind up with five for the whole day,” she said. “But this has been a good turnout.”

Voters persevere through Helene’s challenges

Many voters in Buncombe County described this year’s presidential election as one of the most critical of their lives. To cast their ballots, some voters overcame damaged roads, prolonged power outages and other disruptions.

Susan and Stephen Miller drove to Black Mountain Library to cast their ballots on the first day of early voting despite the ongoing complications they faced at home. Their house still had no power or water last week, and black mold had developed from the flooding.

But Susan Miller said she wasn’t surprised to see a line of voters out the library’s door, given that Black Mountain is an “active” community.

“I’m very pleased to see this many people. I was glad to wait, and I would have waited twice as long to be able to do this,” Stephen Miller said after the couple cast their votes for Vice President Kamala Harris.