The election in North Carolina was already fraught with Republican-led lawsuits, voter roll purges and strict new photo ID requirements. Then came Hurricane Helene.
The flooding destruction across the western part of the state has dramatically upped the stakes for election integrity, forcing officials to scramble to create an emergency plan for missing absentee ballots and voter IDs, destroyed voting precincts and general confusion.
Five county election offices remain closed, many towns still lack mail, cell service and power, and people are still missing. The scope of the devastation may take months to fully assess — but the election is now only one month away. And North Carolina’s Oct. 11 voter registration deadline is rapidly approaching.
The board of elections is helping counties restore their offices, assess whether any voting facilities have been destroyed and communicate with the postal service over mail delivery and road closures. County election officials can and will “spoil,” or trash, absentee ballots if voters who lose them request new replacements, and the state has a system in place to track that process, according to Karen Brinson-Bell, executive director of the state’s board of elections.
Voters who have lost their photo IDs will be able to ask for an exception due to the natural disaster.
But even before the storm hit North Carolina, Republicans had filed five lawsuits against the state’s board of elections in August and September, challenging voter registrations, absentee ballot rules and even the use of mobile IDs. Their voter roll and absentee ballot challenges are still underway, and Republicans successfully blocked a form of ID for student voters last week.
The new extraordinary measures being put in place to move forward with the election only heighten the possibility of litigation— one that could drag out the election process in a competitive state.
A Republican National Committee spokesperson wouldn’t say whether or not more election-related challenges could arise out of the uncertainty caused by the storm.
“I don’t know the answer to that, you know, I don’t like to get into hypotheticals,” they said. “Obviously, the first priority is to make sure everyone is safe and taken care of. I don’t know about the voting landscape in response to the hurricane.”
Both the Harris national campaign and the local campaigns did not provide details about whether or how their strategy has changed in the wake of the storm’s destruction. Campaign officials did not comment on whether they expect increased legal challenges about storm-related voting issues. The Trump campaign also did not respond to requests for comment.
“I hope that people understand that this is not that time,” North Carolina House Democratic Leader Robert Reives said. “I hope that both sides of the aisle recognize that this is not a situation to be manipulated. That our focus is: Get people as close to their regular lives as we can. Part of that includes making sure they have the opportunity to vote.”
Brinson-Bell repeatedly reassured reporters that she had no doubts about election integrity at a press conference this week.
“The people of North Carolina and western North Carolina can have faith in these processes that have been long established to deliver the results accurately, safely and securely,” she said. “Because of the preparations we have been doing for months, it means we have the processes and procedures in place to be responsive to these circumstances.”
Brinson-Bell also seemed determined to ensure that everyone would receive the appropriate information by Election Day — even voters who don’t have access to power or might just be too focused on the disaster to care about the status of their vote.
“It’s not without consideration that I or someone else will actually go into that community and knock on doors if that’s what it takes,” she said in response to a question from NOTUS.
But even though Republicans did not say whether they plan any hurricane-related legal challenges, attorneys for the GOP are pressing forward with other election lawsuits.
Republicans prevailed in one suit just last week, a ruling eliminating mobile IDs as an option for University of North Carolina student voters. A separate ongoing lawsuit is attempting to purge more than 200,000 people from the registered rolls. Another aims to invalidate absentee ballots returned with internal envelopes that are not completely sealed — a challenge that, if successful, would add yet another wrinkle to the now massive effort around ensuring mail ballots are mailed out and returned in time, without being lost.
In filing these lawsuits, Republicans told NOTUS they aim to make sure election safeguards are in place so that “no legal vote can be diluted by an illegal vote.” But the timing and content of the cases have caused some to question whether the GOP is actually laying the groundwork to challenge the results of the certification process.
“One thing that’s really notable about a number of these lawsuits is that they are suits that easily could have been brought much sooner,” Ann Webb, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina, told NOTUS. “I think that that is an indicator somewhat of how they’re being used strategically.”
Republicans insist that their litigious efforts will only draw more voters to the polls.
“The only effect that it’ll have is it’ll increase voter turnout,” the RNC spokesperson told NOTUS. “We are finding and fixing the holes in the system, and so people have more confidence in the system when they cast their ballot. And in turn, voter confidence inspires voter turnout.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have ramped up what they call “voter protection” efforts much earlier than in previous cycles, bringing together lawyers across the key battleground states to prepare for different kinds of legal challenges.
In North Carolina, which hosts one of the most robust voter protection departments, the campaign’s 27 field offices are hosting teams dedicated solely to equipping voters with resources and information to cast valid ballots. They’ve been identifying issues with early voting, troubleshooting them with the state board of elections and advocating directly to the General Assembly in support of pro-voter initiatives. The campaign is also recruiting poll observers and attorneys in every North Carolina county to spot and resolve voter suppression at the polls — an effort the RNC is matching.
“Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in North Carolina have shown they’ll stop at nothing to make it harder to vote, but Democrats are prepared and we will stop them,” David Adeleye, voter protection director for the North Carolina Coordinated Campaign, told NOTUS.
The campaign did not provide information about whether that strategy had evolved in the wake of the storm.
North Carolina isn’t alone in navigating election lawsuits. In over 120 lawsuits across 26 states — a figure confirmed by the RNC — election boards are grappling with the GOP’s voter challenges.
The Trump campaign, in a joint lawsuit with the Nevada GOP and RNC, is accusing the state of improper voter roll maintenance and failing to clear noncitizens. The RNC and Michigan GOP are suing the Michigan secretary of state over “incomplete” guidance for local election clerks to verify absentee ballots. Pennsylvania judges ruled in Republicans’ favor this month, ruling that mail-in ballots with incorrect dates will not count.
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Calen Razor is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Anna Kramer is a reporter at NOTUS.