D Today, explained The podcast takes a deep dive into the key themes of the 2024 election through the lens of seven battleground states We heard from voters Georgia, Pennsylvania, ArizonaAnd Wisconsin Until now; This week we launch North CarolinaWhere a storm last month destroyed the state — and some of its election infrastructure.
North Carolina officials are preparing for another election in the wake of Hurricane Helen. The storm rattled North Carolinians’ voting infrastructure — washing away absentee ballots, disrupting mail service and destroying polling places — and could affect how Election Day plays out in two weeks.
The state is expected to be close — former President Donald Trump won Just 1.3 percentage points in 2020And current polling averages suggest a tighter race this year — and all eyes are on the Hills, which took a hit from the effects of last month’s hurricane.
While parts of life are returning to normal after Hurricane Helen swept through last month — power is back, Internet service is restored — many people in the western part of the state are still without drinking water in their homes.
With many people displaced or undergoing repairs, experts have expressed concern about a depressed voter turnout.
“The question is going to be: If you avoid swallowing water while taking a shower, how important is it to you to vote?” Steve Harrison, a political reporter for NPR affiliate station WFAE, to say Today, explained Hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Local election officials are in an effort to ensure the election process is as close to normal as possible Permission granted To move polling places and adjust timings. The state also updated rules for absentee voters, allowing them to return completed ballots in counties other than their home counties, as previously required — though the state short stop Reinstating the three-day grace period for returning ballots for counting.
Even with the added flexibility, communicating the changes to voters in actually affected areas remains challenging. “It’s hard to get information, because the internet is down and cell service is down, and everything changes on a daily basis,” said Caitlin Leaf, a Buncombe County resident. “Sometimes for hours.” (Leaf is married to audio engineer Patrick Boyd, of Vox Media.)
So far, officials’ efforts to create more flexibility for voters appear to be paying off: state set A voting record On the first day of early voting, which began on October 17 in all 100 counties, it was unclear how many votes were cast in the affected areas.
According to Harrison, these voters can have a major impact on the outcome of national elections Analysis. Of the 15 counties most affected by Helen, Biden won only two in 2020: Buncombe, the liberal city of Asheville, and Watauga, home to Appalachian State University. The rest, Trump won by a wide margin.
Polling average The 2024 presidential race in North Carolina looks to be a dead heat, meaning any decline in turnout in the county could ultimately hurt the former president’s chances.
“If it’s incredibly close, I don’t think we’re going to hear the last of Helen,” Harrison said Today, explained.
Election Day concerns in other battleground states, briefly explained
North Carolina isn’t the only state that could face disruption on Election Day, though the impact of Hurricane Helen makes the situation unique. Other battleground states may have unusually thin margins and wrinkles in vote counting rules Delaying the full results of the election Last November 5.
The survey shows several battleground states Neck and neck Between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, election officials are warning that media organizations will need to count a larger portion of the ballots before they can reliably make their estimates, resulting in a multi-day process like in 2020.
Many states are also working on last-minute efforts Clean up the voter list and change the selection rules. But at least two states could see a delay as their electoral rules were similar.
In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, election officials are barred from processing mail ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day. In other states with mail-in ballots, workers can prepare ballots for counting ahead of time — verifying signatures, flattening ballots — to streamline vote counting on Election Day. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania poll workers starting later could lead to delayed calls this year, especially if the race comes down to just a few thousand votes.
Both state legislatures considered updating their rules after the 2020 election, but conspiracy theories and partisan gridlock ultimately killed bills that would have done so.
“It’s a real disappointment,” Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt to say CNN in September. “[The proposed legislation] Does not benefit any candidate. It will not benefit any party. It only helps to know the results before the public and our election officials, otherwise do not have to work day and night.”
As we saw in 2020, any delay between Election Day and the final results leaves plenty of room for conspiracy theories to take hold — something Trump is likely to take full advantage of. In 2020, Trump Post about A “surprising ballot dump” in Milwaukee after Biden’s vote jumped when the city reported all of its absentee ballots at the same time. (He still Falsely claims he won Wisconsin in 2020.)
CNN political correspondent Sarah Murray says voters should ignore conspiracy theories in the long wait for the 2024 results. “Just because it takes a few days doesn’t mean there is any kind of massive voter fraud going on on,” he to say Today, explained. “It does not mean that the machine is changing the vote. This does not mean that people are throwing away ballots. This means election workers are still counting votes.
