A hurricane's historic destruction hasn't stopped North Carolina election workers and voters

HOT SPRINGS, N.C. (AP) — About three weeks after Hurricane Helene pummeled western North Carolina, the Hot Springs Community Center was still caked in mud. A paper sign hung on the door warning visitors to use “extreme caution” until the building could be inspected. The reason for the damage was scribbled at the top of the page: water inundation.

Like many other buildings in the town of about 500 people, flood waters left the center in ruin. That was one of many problems for election officials in Madison County, who had been planning to use the center as one of their three locations for early voting.

Finding a new place to set up voting machines — one that hadn't been damaged, had enough room and had access to power — was among the countless hurdles elections officials, poll workers and voters have had to manage since Helene brought widespread death and destruction to the region.

Officials settled on the Hot Springs Senior Meal Site as the town's new early voting location. It has been a big adjustment for Dean Benfield, who has been a poll worker for over 20 years. She and her colleagues had a routine at the community center that was now disrupted, just like the lives of so many of their neighbors,

“I hated that that was destroyed,” said Benfield, 77, speaking of the community center she had visited since childhood.

Still, the voters came when the polls opened, on time, for early voting last week. Benfield, who leads the polling place, described it as a “big day,” with more than 50 voters eventually casting ballots.

“Normally on the first day, and I’m just gonna tell you, we might wind up with four voters, we might wind up with five for the whole day,” she said. “But this has been a good turnout.”

The robust turnout for early voting in one small town was just one example of an extraordinary effort across the storm-ravaged counties of western North Carolina to prepare for the start of balloting in one of the nation's most consequential presidential battleground states.

Even as residents had been displaced by flooded homes, communities were cut off by washed out roads, and power and internet service were lost, state and local election officials have been working with a determined grit to make sure voters can find a way to cast their ballots. Some towns remain without water, after their entire systems were destroyed.

The community center in Hot Springs turned out to be one of just a few across western North Carolina’s 80 early voting sites that couldn’t open after the storm.

Turnout since last week's start of early voting has been surprisingly strong. Voters set a statewide record of more than 350,000 ballots cast on the first day, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. By Tuesday — the sixth day of early voting — more than 1.3 million in-person and mailed ballots had been cast.

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, has repeatedly praised the efforts of local election workers, some of whom lost their own homes. She described the damage as unprecedented and the challenges election officials faced in its wake as daunting. But over the first week of early voting, the process has proved remarkably smooth, with few complaints expressed publicly.

“Mountain people are strong, and the election people who serve them are resilient and tough, too,” she said last week.

That's not to say it's been easy. The Associated Press spent two days at the start of early voting with election workers and voters in two counties devastated by Helene: Madison, a reliably Republican county that has delivered overwhelming victories for Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections; and Buncombe, a Democratic-leaning county in the hardest hit region and home to the arts and tourist hub of Asheville. It voted heavily for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

Many election workers talked of facing disruptions to their normal routines. Sometimes they are sharing building space with first responders or hurricane relief volunteers. They also must adapt to new state election rules intended to improve voter accessibility after the storm.

Confusion over where polling places are located has been one of the most frequent issues Madison County Elections Director Jacob Ray has had to address. Non-working phones at the elections office have been another challenge, making communication with voters more difficult.

But Ray said getting the election on track has gone well so far, given the destruction in downtown Hot Springs and Marshall, two of the county's central towns.

All his scheduled poll workers, about 70 of them, were still available to work during the early voting period and on Election Day, Ray said. About a week after the storm, Ray said his office had a plan for how to move forward.

Part of that included sharing a school site, A-B Tech Madison Campus in Marshall, with the local fire department, which had a staging area outside the building to respond to emergencies and help with hurricane relief.

Cases of water bottles were stacked outside. A small group of poll workers set up for early voting in a classroom. An adjacent one held Red Cross cots and bedding.

When Kent Self, a poll worker at the Marshall voting site, saw the initial damage from Helene, he was struck with one question: “Are we going to even be able to have elections?”

He has since answered his own question and each day since the storm has seemed to get better.

“We’re starting to see more glimmers of hope,” he said.

Recovery is ongoing across both counties. Large trees that once blocked main roads now line their shoulders. Construction crews are omnipresent, fixing badly damaged buildings or repaving roads.

In Buncombe County, access to clean water remains a challenge after Helene washed away major pipelines. It's not yet clear how the devastation in and around Asheville will affect voter turnout through Election Day, but any dip from previous elections could specifically affect Harris' chances in the state, given the county's Democratic tilt.

Some voters were determined to cast their ballot. They overcame detours forced by damaged roads, prolonged power outages and other disruptions so they could be heard in what many described as one of the most critical presidential elections of their lives.

Susan and Stephen Miller's home in Buncombe County still had no power or water last week, and had sprouted black mold from the flooding. The couple spent the weeks since Helene hit bouncing between rental homes so Stephen could work remotely.

Susan Miller said she knew people who were forced to walk from their homes after roads and bridges crumbled. The Millers were more fortunate, able to drive to the Black Mountain Library for the first day of early voting.

She wasn't surprised to see a line of voters, saying Black Mountain is an “active” community. She also noted how warm the building was, offering a refuge from the chilly weather for people who still didn't have heat at home.

“I'm very pleased to see this many people. I was glad to wait, and I would have waited twice as long to be able to do this," Stephen Miller said after the couple cast their ballots for Harris.

It's tradition for Diana and Richard Rockwell to vote early, but this year that meant going to a different polling place.

The couple’s usual voting site in Swannanoa, a Buncombe County town a few miles from Black Mountain, was being used for recovery efforts. They instead went to the Black Mountain Library after receiving an email about a change in polling places.

The couple said they were excited to vote in spite of the community's hardships. In the aftermath of the storm, they had helped neighbors communicate with loved ones.

“You get to know people and see how kind they are, and you might not have known that," said Diana Rockwell.

Both Republicans, the Rockwells said they cared most about abortion, immigration and the economy.

Lynn Ferry had already completed her absentee ballot and traveled to the Black Mountain Library to turn it in. Her house was largely undamaged, but she lost internet service for over two weeks and several roads near her home have been washed out.

Her route to the library was more difficult and longer than usual due to landslides that closed some roads.

She had to park several blocks from the library, but that was just a minor inconvenience. She wanted to make sure her ballot got into “the hands of the people that count the votes,” she said.

“If I had to drive 20 hours in one direction to cast a vote, I would have done it,” Ferry said. “That's how important it is for each of us to take responsibility for this country.”

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