Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the U.S. Southeast, including Asheville, North Carolina, just weeks before the 2024 presidential election, likely disrupting the absentee ballot process while voters in the region recover from the wreckage.
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 28: A van flows in floodwaters near the Biltmore Village in ... [+]
Millions of registered voters in Western North Carolina, one of the regions most affected by unprecedented flooding and destructive weather, are dealing with the aftermath of the historic floods.
North Carolina is considered a swing state, with polling experts calling the state a competitive region and a toss-up for the upcoming election.
More than 255,000 absentee ballots were requested for the upcoming election in North Carolina, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections — about 190,000 of which were put into the mail just days before the hurricane hit the state, after a delay caused by re-printing, NBC News reported, citing state officials.
A dozen election offices are currently closed in North Carolina, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and U.S. Post Offices throughout North Carolina also remain suspended, according to its website.
As of October 1, Poweroutage.us shows that more than 10 counties are still dealing with sweeping outages, while 28 counties are designated disaster area counties.
The 28 disaster area counties include a mix of 299,877 registered Democrats and 499,062 registered Republicans, but the Asheville region’s Buncombe County is a notably Democratic county, according to registration data collected by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
While state election officials said in a statement they did not know of lost or damaged voting equipment or ballots, Karen Brinson-Bell, the executive director of the state's board of elections, said in a press conference on Tuesday that “the destruction is unprecedented, and this level of uncertainty, this close to Election Day is daunting.”
The North Carolina State Board of Elections statement also said its assessment of damage was ongoing and said more details on changes to early voting sites or Election Day polling places are on the way, although it did not specify exactly when.
Georgia, another key swing state, was also inundated by the storm, but Robert Sinners, a communication director for Georgia’s Secretary of State, told Forbes that any long-term effects are minimal and the state anticipates voting will happen on schedule.
More than 1 million voters — or about one in five registered voters in the state — sent their ballots by mail in North Carolina for the 2020 election, according to the State Board of Elections. At the time, the COVID-19 pandemic influenced accommodations for voting in isolation. On average in the previous three presidential elections, however, more than 3 million North Carolina voters cast absentee ballots, according to the Carolina Public Press.
“Personal safety of election services staff is currently our top priority,” Corinne Duncan, Buncombe County’s election director, said in an email to Raleigh publication the News and Observer. “We are working to account for all staff and board members. Some are stranded due to road blockage.”
Hurricane Helene hit Florida’s panhandle just before midnight Eastern Time on Thursday and moved through the Southeast, flooding cities throughout Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. More than 130 people have been confirmed dead since Helene made landfall, and nearly 600 people remain missing, according to White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall. Millions lost power during the storm, as flooding and strong winds wreaked havoc on the area, and more than 1.5 million are still without power throughout the Southeast, according to PowerOutage.US.