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.