Hurricane Helene could impact the 2024 election in North Carolina

HThe aftermath of Hurricane Helene could disrupt voting in the 2024 election for North Carolinians, leaving election officials scrambling to contain the fallout in a crucial swing state.

Experts fear the storm could reduce voter turnout, disrupt ballot casting or hinder accurate voting in a low-voting state.

“It will be more difficult for people to vote,” he says Jason M. Roberts, professor of political science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “And quite frankly, given the challenges these people face, voting will likely be much lower on the priority list than it otherwise would be.”

State officials issued emergency measures Monday to make it easier for disaster victims to vote in the battleground state. The nonpartisan North Carolina State Board of Elections has unanimously approved changes in 13 counties where infrastructure, access to polling places and postal services will likely continue to be impacted by the election, the board’s executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, said in a news conference . The changes include allowing county boards of elections to change early voting and Election Day polling locations with a bipartisan majority, hiring more poll workers and allowing voters to mail in their completed mail-in ballots by 7 a.m. at any board of elections office County deadline: 30 p.m. on election day.

“This disaster doesn’t just impact the way we conduct elections; It’s impacting daily life and many of these communities may be without power, without water, without internet and without cell service for weeks,” Bell said. “Our job is to figure out how can we provide choices to citizens in these communities so they can exercise their right to vote?”

The voter registration deadline in the state is still October 11th and early voting will still begin on October 17th as planned. All 100 county election boards in the state are now open to the public, Bell said.

Read more: Your questions about early voting, answered

Helene made landfall in Florida on September 26 as a Category 4 hurricane. It was downgraded as it moved across the United States, but raced through the Southeast and wreaked havoc in western North Carolina. North Carolina’s Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated disaster area includes more than 20 counties in the western part of the state. About half of the approximately 227 people who died from the storm were in North Carolina, according to the Associated Press.

Roberts says the measures adopted by the North Carolina State Board of Elections will help address some of the challenges presented by the natural disaster. But he says those changes still may not be enough and expresses concern that the obstacles created by Helene could reduce voter turnout in a state that has seen some close races in recent elections. A new poll released Thursday by High Point University found Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump tied, both receiving 48% of the vote among likely North Carolina voters.

The storm may have destroyed some polling locations, or polling locations may be inaccessible due to damaged infrastructure. Other sites may no longer be available for voting because they may need to be used for emergency response purposes. The plan was to set up 40 early voting sites in the 13 counties that will be affected by the emergency measures approved by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, according to board spokesman Patrick Gannon. However, it is not yet clear how many of these locations will still be available as polling places, Bell said. Some citizens may have lost their identification documents due to the storm, which could make voting even more difficult. Visit the State Board of Elections website for updated information on what to do in this case.

Even residents who planned to vote before Election Day may have difficulty casting their ballot. The storm disrupted U.S. Postal Service operations in parts of North Carolina, which Roberts said could result in people not receiving their mail-in ballots. And because many people — voters and poll workers alike — were displaced by the storm, for some, voting may not be a priority.

While low voter turnout could have a big impact on an essentially undecided presidential race, the storm may also have made polling data more difficult to obtain in the first place. Lack of electricity, cell phones and internet access in some regions could impact pollsters’ ability to obtain accurate data. Martin Kifer, director of the Survey Research Center at High Point University, says pollsters need to pay close attention to making sure the data they collect is a representative sample.

At Monday’s press conference, Bell urged people to turn to reliable sources of information when developing a voting plan for November. “I want to make sure these people are safe from the storm,” she said, “and thereby able to exercise their right to vote.”