Historic hurricane destruction hasn’t stopped North Carolina poll workers and voters – Winston-Salem Journal

Like many other buildings in the town of about 500 residents, the floods left the center in ruins. That was one of many problems for Madison County election officials, who planned to use the center as one of their three early voting locations.

Finding a new place to put voting machines — one that wasn’t damaged, had enough room and had access to power — was among the myriad hurdles election officials, polling station officials and voters had to overcome since Helena brought to mass death and destruction to the region.

Officials settled on the Hot Springs Senior Meal Site as the city’s new early voting location. It was a big adjustment for Dean Benfield, who has worked in polls for more than 20 years. She and her colleagues had a routine at the community center that was now disrupted, just like the lives of many of their neighbors,

“I hated that it was torn down,” Benfield, 77, said of the community center she has frequented since childhood.

Still, voters came when the polls opened, in time for early voting last week. Benfield, who runs the polling station, described it as a “big day”, with more than 50 voters eventually voting.

“Usually on the first day, and I’ll just tell you, we might end up with four voters, we might end up with five for the whole day,” she said. “But it was a good turnout.”

Strong early voting turnout in one small town was just one example of an extraordinary effort in storm-ravaged western North Carolina counties to prepare for the start of voting in one of the nation’s most important presidential battleground states.

Although residents were displaced by flooded homes, communities were cut off by washed-out roads and power and internet service were lost, state and local election officials are working hard to ensure voters can find a way to cast their ballots. Some cities are left without water after all their systems are destroyed.

The Hot Springs Community Center was one of the few early voting locations in western North Carolina that were unable to open after the storm.

Turnout since early voting began last week has been surprisingly high. Voters set a state 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 mail-in 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 facing election officials as frightening. But in the first week of early voting, the process proved remarkably smooth, with few complaints expressed publicly.

“The people of the mountains are strong, and the people of the elections who serve them are also resilient and tough,” she said last week.

That doesn’t mean it was easy. The Associated Press spent two days at the start of early voting with poll workers and voters in two counties ravaged by Helen: Madison, a reliably Republican county that delivered landslide victories for Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections; and Buncombe, a Democratic-leaning county in the hardest-hit region and home to Asheville’s arts and tourism hub. He voted heavily for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and for Joe Biden in 2020.

Many election workers spoke of disruptions to their normal procedures. Sometimes they share space in the building with first responders or hurricane relief volunteers. They also must adapt to new state election rules designed to improve voter access after the storm.

Confusion about where the polls are is one of the most common problems Madison County Elections Director Jacob Ray has had to deal with. Another challenge is non-working telephones in polling stations, which makes it difficult to communicate with voters.

But Ray said the election has gone well so far, given the devastation in downtown Hot Springs and Marshall, two of the county’s central cities.

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

Part of that included sharing a school site, the AB Tech Madison Campus in Marshall, with the local fire department, which had an area outside the building to respond to emergencies and help with hurricanes.

Crates of bottled water were lined up outside. A small group of poll workers organizes early voting in a classroom. In a neighboring one there were beds and mats of the Red Cross.

When Kent Self, a Marshall poll worker, saw the initial damage from Helen, he was struck by one question: “Are we ever going to be able to hold an election?”

He has since answered his own question and seemed to improve with each passing day since the storm.

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

Recovery continues in both counties. Large trees that once blocked the main roads now line their shoulders. Construction crews are everywhere, repairing badly damaged buildings or repaving roads.

In Buncombe County, access to clean water remains a challenge after Helena washed out major pipelines. It’s not yet clear how the devastation in and around Asheville will affect election day turnout, 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 vote. They braved detours imposed by damaged roads, extended power outages and other disruptions to be heard in what many described as one of the most critical presidential elections of their lifetime.

Susan and Stephen Miller’s home in Buncombe County was still without power or water last week and had sprouted black mold from the flood. The couple have spent the weeks since Helen struck bouncing between rental properties so Stephen can work remotely.

Susan Miller said she knows people who have been forced to leave their homes on foot after roads and bridges collapsed. The Millers had better luck, being 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 is, offering refuge from the chilly weather for people who still don’t have heat at home.

“I am very happy to see so many people. I was happy to wait and I would wait twice as long to be able to do this,” Stephen Miller said after the couple voted 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 polling place in Swannanoa, a Buncombe County town a few miles from Black Mountain, was used for recovery efforts. Instead, they went to the Black Mountain Library after receiving an email about changing polling places.

The couple said they were excited to vote despite the community’s struggles. After the storm, they had helped neighbors communicate with loved ones.

“You get to know people and see how nice they are, and maybe you didn’t know it,” Diana Rockwell said.

Both Rockwell Republicans said they care most about abortion, immigration and the economy.

Lynn Ferry had already filled out her absentee ballot and went to the Black Mountain Library to drop it off. Her house was largely undamaged, but she lost internet service for more than two weeks and several roads near her home were washed away.

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

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

“If I had to drive 20 hours one way to vote, I would,” Ferry said. “That’s how important it is for each of us to take responsibility for this country.

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about the AP Democracy Initiative here. AP is solely responsible for all content.