North Carolina’s hurricane recovery is still in the works in the worst hit areas, where parts of the state remain effectively unreachable. In the midst of it all, officials are pushing through a series of emergency measures to ensure polls are accessible for Election Day.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections announced that all 100 county boards of election are now open to the public and have restarted operations following the hurricane in a Monday press conference. For 13 of those counties “where infrastructure, accessibility to voting sites, and postal services remain severely disrupted,” the board voted unanimously in favor of a set of emergency measures to ensure voting access, including changes that loosen absentee and in-person voting rules for those in affected areas. Previously, the board also voted to allow exceptions to voter ID laws.
The need for these kinds of extraordinary measures runs up against Republicans’ campaign to tighten absentee ballot access and impose additional requirements to vote. Already the changes aren’t sitting well with some GOP leaders.
Doug Brown, chair of the Buncombe County GOP, told NOTUS before the board of elections emergency meeting that he was somewhat skeptical of the need for certain changes. Buncombe County is the largest population center devastated by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.
Brown said he wanted an “extra watchdog eye” on any board of elections meetings because the chairs of the county boards are appointed by a Democratic governor.
“Any temporary rules employed, they must not induce a risk of ballot or election fraud,” Brown said.
A Republican on the state board, however, thinks the new measures will not pose any risks to the security of the election.
“I think this is very important that it is being crafted to avoid any detrimental effect on the integrity of the election and the security of the ballots, and I think this resolution does that,” Kevin Lewis, an NCSBE member, said in the board’s meeting on Monday.
The newly in-place provisions will increase in-person and absentee voting options, ramp up poll worker recruitment and bolster the board’s coordination with state emergency officials. The board also told reporters that they are asking the legislature for about $2 million in emergency funding, as well as significant emergency assistance from the federal government for election sites.
“We have every intention of starting early voting as scheduled, on Thursday, Oct. 17, in all 100 counties,” Karen Brinson Bell, the NCSBE’s executive director, said at a press conference on Monday. “Early voting may look different than expected in some of the 13 hardest hit counties, but it will go on.”
The vote allows the 13 counties’ boards of elections to modify their in-person early voting sites, days and hours so voters displaced from their homes can submit voting materials to any polling locations outside of their own county. Voters — or their near relatives or legal guardians — will also be allowed to hand-deliver completed absentee ballots at Election Day polling places in their county as long as they are received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. (In five counties, including Ashe, Avery, Henderson, Polk and Yancey, the state board has only identified one early voting site for the entire county.)
Through a bipartisan majority vote, county boards are now also allowed to appoint election officials who may be registered in other counties and to reassign poll workers to different locations than their original assignment to make up for any losses in staff at voting sites.
Democrats in the state told NOTUS they’re “pleased with the quick actions” from the board, calling the measures “exactly what’s needed to ensure everyone can still make their voice heard.” They dismissed GOP rhetoric around potential fraud in the election.
“We’ve been hearing these baseless claims of fraud since 2020, and despite countless audits and investigations– including by Republican officials– there’s no evidence that widespread voters fraud existed then and we have no reason to believe it will exist with these new measures,” said Sam Lozier, a spokesperson for the North Carolina House Democratic caucus.
Other election officials also insist that in making these emergency adjustments, the security of the election will not be compromised.
“I’m generally very hesitant to make changes to the normal running of our elections, but these have been tailored to give flexibility to the county boards to meet those specific needs,” Stacy Eggers, another NCSBE member, said in the board meeting on Monday.
Still, some provisions are cause for concern for those like Brown.
The board announced last week that one permitted exception will be for voters unable to provide ID because of the hurricane. Any voters in or from the 25 counties that had been under a disaster declaration have an exception to the photo ID requirement if they’re unable to provide one when voting.
“What we do not want to see is that all of a sudden things come up,” Brown said of the ID exception. “As soon as you give people an excuse, it’s an excuse.”
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Calen Razor is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Anna Kramer is a reporter at NOTUS.