Electoral battleground North Carolina starts early in-person voting while recovering from Helene

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Early in-person voting was set to begin statewide Thursday in the presidential battleground of North Carolina, including in mountainous areas where thousands of potential voters still lack power and clean running water after Hurricane Helene’s epic flooding.

More than 400 locations in all 100 counties were expected to open Thursday morning for the 17-day early vote period, State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said this week. Only four of 80 sites in the 25 western counties hardest hit by the storm will not open.

“We lost just a few — despite the extensive damage, loss of power, water, internet and phone service, and the washing out of roads throughout the region,” said Brinson Bell, who praised emergency management officials, utilities and election workers. “It’s an effort all North Carolinians should be proud of.”

Helene’s arrival three weeks ago in the Southeast decimated remote towns throughout Appalachia and killed at least 246 people, with a little over half of the storm-related deaths in North Carolina. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.

Early in-person voting, which continues through Nov. 2, is very popular in North Carolina. More than 3.6 million ballots — 65% of all cast ballots — were cast this way in the 2020 general election. In the 2016 election, 62% of all cast ballots were cast during early in-person voting.

Brinson Bell said she didn’t expect a decrease in the number of voters casting ballots early. Instead, she said, it was possible it could increase as some voters in storm-impacted areas may not want to wait for Election Day. Early in-person voting also allows someone to register to vote and cast a ballot simultaneously.

Absentee voting in North Carolina began a few weeks ago, with well over 60,000 completed ballots turned in so far, election officials said. People displaced by Helene are being allowed to drop off their absentee ballot at any early voting site in the state.

The importance of early voting wasn’t lost upon the presidential campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz was expected to campaign in Winston-Salem and in Durham, where he was to be joined by former President Bill Clinton.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley were expected to appear on the “Team Trump Bus Tour” when it resumes Thursday in Rutherford County, which was among the hardest-hit areas.

The North Carolina ballot also includes races for governor, attorney general and several other statewide positions. All U.S. House and General Assembly seats also are up for reelection.

County election boards have received flexibility to modify early voting sites, including locations and their daily hours. In Buncombe County, which includes the region’s population center of Asheville, a city devastated by the storm, 10 of the 14 planned early voting sites will be open.

In Watauga County, home to Boone and Appalachian State University, the board adjusted early-voting hours to avoid evening travel for voters and poll workers. They also expanded weekend voting options.

Watauga elections Director Matt Snyder said Wednesday having all six sites ready for Thursday was a feat his office didn’t expect in Helene’s immediate aftermath. But election officials have been working weekends to get prepared.

“It’s exhausting,” Snyder said. “It’s 16-hour days … but everybody seems to pitch in.”

Officials in the 25 counties affected by the storm were still evaluating Election Day polling locations, with the “vast majority” expected to be available to voters, Brinson Bell said.

This is the first presidential general election for which North Carolina voters must show photo identification. Someone who has lost their ID because of the storm can fill out an exception form.

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Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; and Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.