North Carolina is a crucial battleground state in the upcoming U.S. presidential election on November 5th. Following the impact of Hurricane “Helene” a few weeks ago, the state began early voting on Thursday, October 17th, despite some residents still being without power, running water, or telephone service.
The state’s stance in the contest between Vice President Harris and former President Trump is of paramount importance, as its voting tendencies could sway the election outcome. Polls indicate that the election results will be very close, with swing states potentially determining the victor.
Hurricane “Helene” resulted in the deaths of over two hundred people across six southeastern states in the U.S. (South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia), and caused billions of dollars in damages, sparking concerns about the impact on voter turnout.
On Thursday morning, 71-year-old retiree Harvey Neal went to the sole early voting location in Hendersonville, North Carolina to cast his vote, with voters continuously entering and exiting the polling center.
Neal stated that he voted in support of Harris. He said, “She’s young, she’s a Democrat, what other choice is there, you know?”
Despite being without power for four to five days, Neal considered himself fortunate that his house had not suffered any damage from the hurricane.
According to polling data from FiveThirtyEight, Trump and Harris are deadlocked in the race in North Carolina, with Trump holding 48% of support in the state, compared to Harris’s 47.5%.
Some of the hardest-hit counties in the state show support for both the Republican and Democratic parties. For example, Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, while Trump garnered support in the neighboring Yancey County.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections spent weeks assessing the damage to polling locations caused by the hurricane. On Thursday, the federal disaster declaration listed 76 early voting locations open to voters in 25 western counties of North Carolina. This is slightly fewer than the planned 80 locations before the storm hit.
According to state data, early voting has been the most popular voting method for North Carolinians in both the 2020 and 2016 elections. Georgia is another fiercely contested state damaged by the storm, and early voting in the state began on Tuesday.
Tina Veitch, a 49-year-old graphic designer from Burnsville, stated that her road home was destroyed by the storm, but she chose not to evacuate to Florida to stay with family and instead remained locally, partly to vote.
She expressed on Wednesday that the absentee voting process was too cumbersome, saying, “there’s just too much that you have to go through, it’s not worth it… so we decided to at least wait until tomorrow to go vote.”
(This article is based on a report from Reuters)