North Carolina Board of Elections unanimously approves resolution to modify voting locations for all 13 counties affected by Hurricane Helene

The North Carolina Board of Elections has approved a plan to modify in-person early voting locations and Election Day voting places for those residents in the 13 counties most devastatingly affected by Hurricane Helene. The resolution passed unanimously with bipartisan support. Early voting is set to begin statewide on October 17. 

It was during a Monday meeting that the State Board of Elections passed a resolution to make sure that local county offices have more power to make sure that voting access is vouchsafed. The 13 affected counties, which include Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey, will see "a series of provisions that range from modifying early voting sites and schedules to allowing for additional locations for voters to drop off their absentee ballots," ABC 11 reports from Raleigh.

"Additionally," said Board of Elections General Counsel Paul Cox, "we know there's going to be challenges regarding maintaining the poll workers at these voting sites, both early voting and election day. So what this resolution allows is county boards, by a bipartisan majority vote, to appoint election officials who are registered in other counties, to appoint emergency election day assistance, to re-assign poll workers to different locations."

Chair of the Board of Elections Alan Hirsch said "We really do have two critical issues here. One is to ensure that our citizens have access and that no one is denied the right to vote because of these logistical problems. And second, that we maintain the integrity to ensure that the count is correct."

Election offices in each county are back open.