Just weeks after Helene devastated communities across Western North Carolina, early in-person voting for the general election began Thursday, with county election boards confident of conducting an accessible election. But not without struggle and obstacles.
Just this week, employees at the Buncombe County Board of Elections office received running water, providing much-needed comfort for the 50 or so employees who shared one portable toilet, said Corinne M. Duncan, director of the county board of elections.
Her team still has many long days ahead of them for the election to take place, she said, and expected her staffers to work long hours every day until Nov. 15.
But their mission to serve the community keeps them going.
“At its core, voting is about people coming together from all kinds of backgrounds and ideologies and, you know, ways of thinking to come together to make decisions,” Duncan said. “It’s the physical act of doing that, and I think providing that space for people is magical anyway, and now in this time of crisis I think it’s a service.”
Early voting locations in Buncombe County were the hardest hit of the 25 affected counties, the state board said, with four location removals.
Part of the closure of early polling places was due to the availability of poll workers, Duncan said, with only two-thirds of poll workers able to work.
However, the 10 remaining locations are well distributed and have high capacity, she said. They could also expand hours and add weekends to their schedule, giving voters more opportunities.
Despite the storm sweeping across the southeastern U.S., washing away entire homes, flooding rivers, causing landslides to destroy personal property and leaving residents without power and service, 76 of the 80 originally planned early voting locations in Western North counties are -Carolina affected. According to the State Board of Elections, they are in full swing.
This will not be the first crisis that Duncan, who has been involved in elections since 2015, has experienced.
In early 2020, she took on the role of executive director at the Buncombe County Board of Elections.
Working through the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed her team to build relationships with emergency management, which has paid off this year, she said.
Making the election happen has been a statewide effort. The State Board of Elections has passed several resolutions to increase flexibility by, among other things, allowing county boards to adjust voting locations and times with a majority of the two parties on the board and allowing voters the ability to submit their ballots at absentee ballots to be submitted to any district administration or election office. The state legislature is also helping to support these efforts by including $5 million in funding through their first Helene relief package.
Several other involved provincial election leaders in the area said they were bouncing back well after the devastation and are confident about holding this year’s unprecedented elections.
Despite the challenges for voters and election workers, voting is “a tangible example of how we come together,” Duncan said, which is why she believes her team and North Carolina residents will continue to show up.
Absenteeism and early personal mood
The state’s last presidential election, held during the COVID-19 crisis, saw a significant increase in absentee and early in-person voting. Duncan said she expects it to be similar this year.
In Buncombe County alone, they have received more than 14,000 absenteeism requests, of which about 1,500 have been returned, a definitive increase since Helene struck, Duncan said.
Duncan also said their board has received a number of absentee ballots with mud on them that can still be counted “as long as someone can read it and knows what you plan to vote for, we will process it,” she said.
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In Rutherford County, the top concern Executive Director Dawn Lovelace has heard from voters is absentee ballots. Some call and say their ballots are damaged or they can’t receive them due to property damage. In this case, the board can spoil the old ballot and reissue a new ballot.
Additionally, in an effort to help displaced voters access voting rights, the Buncombe County Board of Elections is sending multipartisan assistant teams to disaster shelters, according to a news release. These teams, which are allowed to assist voters with absentee ballots, were made possible by state board resolutions.
Voting sites
Election Day voting locations for Buncombe County are looking better than early election voting locations as all 80 November 5 polling places are available. Sixteen of them had to be modified due to damage from flooding, falling trees or power lines, damage to roads or bridges, or emergency response centers using the spaces.
In Watauga County, where Appalachian State University is located, all early voting locations are the same, but the board has expanded voting hours, similar to what many county boards have done.
“We are pleased to be able to offer full weekend availability for the first time,” said the board’s press release. “This board decision was made to allow more flexibility in voters’ schedules and to maximize daylight driving conditions, both impacted by Tropical Storm Helene, as allowed by recent Helene legislation.”
More work lies ahead for election workers, especially in Buncombe County, where they had to adjust 16 Election Day locations.
Duncan is confident in her team’s ability to get it done, but “it’s more work,” she said. “We had all those things figured out. Now we have to go out and do it again.”
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Majority of voting sites open for WNC post Helene despite destruction
