The Postal Service has been providing election officials with a daily update of the roads that are blocked and can’t allow deliveries. The officials are then matching up the information to their list of people who’ve requested absentee ballots and contacting them to determine how best to get ballots to them.
“We’re doing everything we possibly can to find voters whose ballots may be missing,” Gannon said.
The state also plans to put up 15 tents across the region before the election. The hardened temporary structures will include bathrooms and security systems. It’s not clear where exactly they’re going yet, but several of them are expected in Avery County, one of several counties in western North Carolina near Asheville that are scrambling to update their election plans.
“We’ve had to expand our polling places for people to have access again,” said John Anglin, the GOP chair in Yancey County. “This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue.”
In previous years, rural counties often had just one early voting site. This year, some have expanded the number of sites to accommodate hard-hit areas still recovering from Helene. In Avery County, where 76% of registered voters turned out for the 2020 election, officials have buckled down to ensure a smooth first day of early voting. Joseph Trivette, the county’s deputy director of elections, said the county had two early voting sites for the first time after Helene damaged polling sites in 14 out of 19 precincts.
State election officials said they had to deal with an unprecedented scenario in 2020 with the Covid pandemic. But this year is different: They’ve had less time to prepare.
“We’re on round two of different occurrences for a presidential election,” Trivette said. “But we just adapt.”
The political consequences of another upended election are unclear. Asheville is known as one of the state’s most liberal pockets, and it is likely to skew heavily for Vice President Kamala Harris, but its surrounding rural counties are expected to largely support former President Donald Trump. Low voter turnout could make the difference for either campaign.
As early voting kicks off, election officials say they recognize the high stakes. In Newland, they’re opening up new site at Riverside Elementary, near one of the hardest-hit communities — and using the Starlink satellite service to help power the tabulation for three precincts now consolidated into one polling location.
“My grandma always told me the importance of voting,” Trivette said. “So just to be a part of that now and help people vote, it just means a lot more.”
