County election officials given room to adjust voting measures to account for Helene’s destruction 

The state elections board passed a resolution providing needed flexibility in 13 hard-hit counties, and promising a “robust” and “secure” election.

Promising again that Hurricane Helene would not derail the voting process, the North Carolina Board of Elections (BOE) voted unanimously on Monday to give election officials in 13 Helene-ravaged counties the flexibility they need to ensure free and secure elections amid the widespread damage.

The board passed an emergency resolution allowing those 13 county boards to adjust the locations and times of early voting and Election Day polling sites to fit the realities on the ground. The resolution also made several one-time only changes to absentee ballot rules in these counties, giving displaced residents more options for returning their ballots. 

The counties are: Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey.

The changes will help officials in these counties “administer this election under extraordinarily difficult conditions,” while still providing voters “robust voting options,” Karen Brinson Bell, the NCBOE’s executive director, told reporters in a virtual press conference.

While these counties are still reeling from the effects of the storm, “significant strides” have been made, Brinson Bell said.

All county boards of elections are now open and receiving mail, she said, and election officials expect the early voting period to begin as scheduled on Oct. 17 in all 100 counties in the state

“Early voting may look different,” Brinson Bell said, “but it will go on.” 

The state board drafted the resolution with direct input from the county boards, state emergency management personnel, and the US Postal Service.

The resolution calls for a bipartisan majority of each county board to approve any changes, but Brinson Bell said she expected most changes to be approved unanimously.

“Given the response we have seen, it is not unexpected that we will still have a unanimous vote and bipartisan support as they rally around each other,” she said.

Here are the some of the changes the resolution allows:

Early voting: 

• The state board will not need to approve any changes to the number, location, and hours of early voting polling sites as long as a bipartisan majority of each county board approves the changes. 

 Election Day: 

• While it should be used only as a last resort, county boards can now set up an Election Day voting site in an adjacent county so long as they still staff the site themselves and keep their materials and processes separate from any other voting site being run at that location. This provision would require Brinson Bell’s approval. 
• County boards can also permit voters who are unable to get to their assigned voting site on Election Day to instead vote at any polling site in their county.

Voting by Mail

• Through Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, voters can now request and pick up an absentee ballot at their county board of elections office.
• Voters can drop off completed absentee ballots at ANY state board of elections office, not just their home county’s. The deadline to return the ballot, 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, remains the same.
• Voters, or their near relative or guardian, can also deliver completed absentee ballots to any voting site in their home county on Election Day. 

Staffing issues

• County boards can hire election officials from other counties as long as they are registered to vote in the state. They can also appoint and assign emergency Election Day assistants and reassign poll workers as needed to locations other than their originally designated precinct. 
• County boards can also utilize bipartisan assistance teams to facilitate absentee ballot requests and delivery at shelters and other public disaster relief sites. The teams would be able to receive and deliver the completed and sealed ballots to county boards.

Enhanced communication

• The state board will continue to work with emergency management personnel to ensure that temporary voting locations can be used, if need be, and that those facilities have all the generators, temporary water or restroom facilities, and other services they may need to run. 
• Election officials will also be given a point of contact with the emergency officials to streamline communication.

‘Day to day challenges’

Election officials are determined to make the 2024 election as close to normal as possible, Brinson Bell said, but the challenges are still huge.

Election officials are working to ensure the voting process while struggling with their own damage at home, she said.

“Many of our workers are displaced,” she said, and “dealing with day to day challenges.”

But they are just as determined.

“They want to be able to give back to their community.”

The state board could seek further changes the more they learn about the circumstances in these counties, Brinson Bell said. She added that the board would ask the General Assembly for some $2 million in additional funding when lawmakers return to Raleigh this week. 

After the vote on Monday, Brinson Bell thanked the board members for their hard work and expressed confidence that the state’s elections apparatus was in good shape to deliver on their promises to the electorate, no matter the complications.

“We’ve got this,” she said.