Thursday is the first day of in-person early voting in North Carolina. If you are not currently registered to vote, you can do so during this early voting period.
>> Early voting locations in North Carolina
Bank of America Stadium is the largest polling place in Mecklenburg County. There are early voting polling places all over the state, but some are closed due to Helene’s destruction.
RELATED: In-person early voting begins Thursday in North Carolina
In McDowell County, one of two early voting locations has been taken over by Helene’s recovery efforts, but that isn’t stopping voters. Some people don’t even have utilities, but they still showed up at the polls.
There are still areas in the Old Fort without power, water and sewage, and the damage is extensive. Near the elementary school, residents showed Channel 9’s Dave Faherty how high the water was in their homes 20 days ago.
HELENE COVERAGE IN MCDOWELL COUNTY:
Scotty Swann now lives in an RV in front of this house after water from the Catawba River filled much of his first floor. He said he and his girlfriend had to be rescued because of the high water.
“Me, my girlfriend and her son went up to the roof here and a rescue team came and took us in a canoe,” he said.
Election officials said there was so much damage that they had not opened the early voting site at the Old Fort. Instead, they asked residents to drive to Marion, where Faherty saw long lines Thursday morning.
In the last presidential election, more than 60% of the 25,000 people who voted in McDowell did so early.
The early voting area at the Old Fort is now filled with disaster relief supplies and the parking lot has tents for people working from out of town. Election officials said there was no way they could open the polls for early voting at this time because of the destruction.
“The power, the water, the sewer, all these problems – no cell service and no internet,” Kim Welborn said. “That depot is now used as a medical triage and clinic for the community.”
Roann Bishop works at the Gateway Museum in the old fort. Her office was destroyed by high water, but she said she will vote this year.
“Many people say the mountain people are strong and resilient, and so are we,” she said. “But it will take a long time to rebuild this. I may not vote early, but I will be there on Election Day.”
Scottie Swann, who is still out of power and has seen neighbors move away, also plans to go to the polls this year to cast his vote.
‘Oh, I’m going to vote. I’m an American, son,” he said. “I served my time in the Marine Corps and all that.”
Faherty went to the town hall where he was told that Old Fort is receiving a lot of support from FEMA. He found that 186 houses had been damaged and more than a third of them are now unliveable.
If you plan to vote by mail in North Carolina, some people may get an unpleasant surprise when they open their ballot. State officials said in some cases the internal envelope — the envelope voters use to return their completed ballot — was sealed by fluid from Helene.
One voter took a video showing the sealed envelopes.
“To the point where we can’t really open them without tearing the envelope, and that was very concerning because we were concerned that this could potentially be considered tampering,” Liz Allen Green said.
If this happens to you, you will need to request a new ballot from your county elections office.
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(WATCH BELOW: NC election workers carefully prepare mail-in ballots for early voting)
