In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s path of destruction through the Southeast, including critical swing states like North Carolina, state election officials have made adjustments to voting rules in response to the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene.
The North Carolina Elections Board, in a ‘bipartisan effort,’ passed an emergency resolution aimed at facilitating early voting in 13 counties severely affected by the hurricane.
Notably, all but one of these counties—Buncombe—voted for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, according to Fox News.
This raises questions about whether the adjustments are truly about aiding displaced voters or if they are a tactical maneuver to sway the electoral landscape in favor of Democrats.
The adjustments include:
- Expanded Voting Sites: Additional or modified voting locations will be made available to accommodate displaced residents.
- Extended Voting Hours: Polling places will have longer hours to ensure everyone can cast their ballot.
- Absentee Ballot Flexibility: Voters can now submit absentee ballots to any county’s election board, rather than being restricted to their local board. The deadline for requesting absentee ballots has also been pushed back to November 4.
- Assistance team to help collect absentee ballot
While these changes may seem beneficial on the surface, conservative critics are voicing concerns about potential voter fraud and the integrity of the electoral process. How can we ensure that these ballots are legitimate when voters can submit them anywhere in the state?
President Donald Trump, who narrowly won North Carolina by a mere 1.4 percentage points in 2020, has weighed in on the situation.
He expressed confidence that voters will still turn out despite the storm’s impact.
“I believe they’re going to go out and vote if they have to crawl to a voting booth,” Trump told Ingraham on Monday.
His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, is reportedly working on initiatives to ensure that residents in affected areas can exercise their voting rights.
According to Newsweek, registered Democrats in North Carolina have taken an early lead in returning mail-in ballots.
According to VoteHub.us, which sources data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, a total of 22,910 mail-in ballots have been submitted so far, with 9,075 returned by Democrats, compared to 5,595 by Republicans, and 8,240 by unaffiliated voters.
As of October 5, North Carolina has 7.7 million registered voters and nearly 284,000 mail-in ballot requests. Of those requested, 93,285 are from Democrats, 65,333 from Republicans, and 102,717 from unaffiliated voters, with 261,335 mail-in ballots still outstanding.
Fox News’ Jesse Watters weighed in on the developments during his show, noting, “Hurricane Helene didn’t just wreak havoc on people’s lives—it’s going to affect the election.”
Watters introduced Senior Political Correspondent Kevin Corke, who detailed the major shifts, highlighting how voters can now deliver absentee ballots to any county in the state and how new poll workers will be recruited from various locations.
“Voters in those counties will have longer to apply for absentee ballots. They’ll be allowed to drop their ballots off anywhere in the state, not just in their home county. There’ll also be teams that will be sent to storm relief centers to help register more voters and, you guessed it, collect more ballots,” said Corke.
“What’s more, the county boards will also be able to, by a bipartisan majority, hire poll workers from other counties and then move them all around the state to ensure there are enough experienced workers at each voting site.”
Corke also noted that Republicans are concerned about the potential for abuse under these new rules, with absentee ballots and voting procedures becoming more fluid.
“Let’s face it, when election rules get changed at the last minute, there’s always a worry,” said Watters.
Video via Karli Bonne:
North Carolina changes voting rules after hurricane and Mark Elias approves-what could possibly go wrong pic.twitter.com/q7EP8hBvu5
— Karli Bonne’ (@KarluskaP) October 9, 2024
