Will Helene influence voting behavior? NC election officials argue

North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee are among the Southern states grappling with the tragic aftermath of Helene — and the possibility of election disruption.

As the extent of Hurricane Helene’s deadly devastation now comes into focus, the easy way forward here would be to draw attention to the furious circus that Donald Trump is bringing to Georgia on Monday with his typically toxic brew of lies, distortions and self-aggrandizement tried.

But we are still five weeks away from the general election. And our attention is much better focused on the professional election administrators who are still working very hard, despite the former president’s nearly decade-long attempts to smear them (without concrete evidence).

Consider Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections, and Paul Cox, the board’s general counsel. In a conference call Tuesday, they told reporters they were still trying to reach local election officials and poll workers in some of their state’s 100 counties, particularly in the mountainous western region that has borne the brunt of Helene’s harshest blows.

“This storm is unlike anything we have seen in our lifetime in Western North Carolina,” Brinson Bell said. “The destruction is unprecedented and this level of uncertainty so close to Election Day is disheartening.”

And yet I must say that she was not intimidated by the tasks ahead of her.

North Carolina is trying to organize the election

Ten county election offices are closed due to the storm and will need to be reopened. Mail-in voting is already underway and North Carolina had more than 256,000 requests for ballots as of Tuesday. The deadline to register to vote in North Carolina is October 11th.

Early in-person voting begins October 17th.

Brinson Bell was asked if she fears voters could lose confidence in the election results as her team struggled to do its job while cell service is spotty, power and clean water are at least days away in places and roads have been washed away . She cited a vote that took place in tents in a coastal county after a hurricane in 2019.

“I hope this helps them gain more confidence in the results and what we do,” Brinson Bell said. “Electors are resilient, just like the people who live in the mountains. And we have prepared to hold elections.”

This is what makes Trump’s constant barrage of lies about elections and attacks on the people who run them so dishonorable. Election administrators navigate all types of complexity to deliver accurate results under the best of circumstances. In the face of disaster, they work even harder.

Opinion: Voter misinformation is a big problem. Election workers say things are getting worse.

Helene’s damage could affect voting in Tennessee, South Carolina

Other states affected by Helene are also pushing towards election day, but face major challenges.

Doug Kufner, a spokesman for the Tennessee secretary of state, told me that at least six polling places in the northeast of his state were damaged or inaccessible due to road or bridge damage, and that the number could rise with further evaluation.

But like North Carolina, Tennessee has confidence in its plans and procedures moving forward. Early in-person voting begins in two weeks.

“The Tennessee voting community is united; when one person is hurt, we all hurt,” Kufner said. “The heartache, shock and devastation is enormous.”

TJ Lundeen of the South Carolina Election Commission told me, “There are still many areas of the state without power, and restoration timelines extend through this week and next.”

Early voting in South Carolina begins October 21st.

“We anticipate that changes will be required to vote centers and polling locations,” Lundeen said. “We simply don’t have that information at this time.”

Opinion: Will your vote count? Trump supporters are already working against the 2024 election results.

Mark Ard of the Florida Department of State told me that his agency is still citing damage “to polling place infrastructure” and the ability of poll workers to perform their duties on Election Day. And the state is working with the U.S. Postal Service “regarding concerns about election information and absentee ballots.”

Trump, who so often attacks voting that doesn’t take place on Election Day, is voting early in Florida and urging his supporters to use mail-in ballots — while simultaneously attacking the practice.

Trump caused problems in damaged states with his usual style of lies

Robert Sinners, a spokesman for Georgia’s secretary of state, told me: “We do not expect the hurricane to have a prolonged impact” on the election.

Georgia had to contend with the Republican presidential candidate’s visit Monday as his rhetorical pushback showed his inability to show compassion in the face of disaster. Trump said in a post on his social media page Truth Social that he would also visit North Carolina soon and accused the federal government and that state’s governor, a Democrat, of “doing everything they can to not please people in Republican areas.” help”. .”

But in a bored and monotonous reading of a speech in Valdosta, Georgia, Trump claimed he was seeking unity: “We’re not talking politics now. We all need to come together and resolve this.”

Trump was specifically asked by NBC News for evidence to support his claims about withheld aid. The former one-term president could only murmur a soft “Look” in response.

Trump also lied on Monday that the Republican governor of Georgia, whom he attacked and hugged, had difficulty getting the White House on the phone. Gov. Brian Kemp said earlier in the day that he had no problem engaging with President Joe Biden.

Election officials have long been concerned about disinformation

Biden plans to visit North Carolina on Wednesday after saying on Sunday he was waiting so as not to “interfere with emergency operations.”

Vice President Kamala Harris cut short a campaign trip and returned to Washington, D.C., to receive updates on the hurricane. The Democratic presidential candidate will travel to Georgia on Wednesday to survey the damage and is expected to visit North Carolina soon.

Two weeks ago, Brinson Bell and other election officials from swing states in Michigan met to discuss their desires and fears heading into the Nov. 5 general election. Disinformation about voter fraud and the distrust that these lies create in the results is a serious problem, they told me.

I asked Brinson Bell and Cox on Tuesday about the possibility of disinformation flooding the election process with lies as they work to collect and count ballots. Brinson Bell said North Carolina is confident in the “consistent processes” it has used since 2006.

Cox added a warning but did not identify individual sources of election disinformation. “Consider the source,” he warned. It’s advice every voter in every state should heed.

“Turn out all the noise out there,” Cox said. “Because there are a lot of people out there putting out messages that are not official messages, that are unverified messages, that they are spreading because they have a political hurdle to clear.”

The noise comes from Trump. On Monday, he whined on the Fox Nation streaming service that the hurricane had “hurt a lot of my constituents” while repeating his lie that the Biden-Harris administration hadn’t helped.

Trump’s limited, ego-addled bandwidth can only perceive a disaster that killed nearly 150 people as something terrible that happened him and an opportunity to gain advantage by lying.

Follow USA TODAY election columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan

Will Helene influence voting behavior? NC election officials argue

ByJasper

North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee are among the Southern states grappling with the tragic aftermath of Helene — and the possibility of election disruption.

North Carolina is trying to organize the election

Helene’s damage could affect voting in Tennessee, South Carolina

Trump caused problems in damaged states with his usual style of lies

Election officials have long been concerned about disinformation

By Jasper

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