Absentee ballot meetings in western North Carolina counties can be rescheduled
File image of an election worker preparing to mail out absentee ballot requests at the Wake County Board of Elections office in Raleigh on Sept. 15, 2022. Image courtesy WUNC.
On Monday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections held an emergency meeting to adopt a resolution allowing officials in counties slammed by Helene to reschedule statutorily required absentee ballot meetings.
Under state law, county elections boards are to start holding these weekly meetings on the fifth Tuesday ahead of Election Day, which falls this week. But Helene's path of death and destruction in western North Carolina has made that impossible.
As of Monday afternoon, according to state elections officials, local elections offices in 14 of the 22 western North Carolina counties they've been in touch with remained closed.
"Many are without water, power, of course Internet, and some have access issues with damaged roads or roads that are blocked," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
The five-member bipartisan state board met virtually on Monday to address the emergency and unanimously adopted a resolution under its statutory authority.
Under the resolution, the county boards may reschedule the meetings and, in keeping with state law, must give the public 48 hours' notice of changes.
Stacy Eggers, one of the state board's two Republican members, joined the emergency meeting from his home in Boone, among the western North Carolina areas hit by the massive storm.
"It is a tough time in the mountains of western North Carolina," Eggers told his fellow board members. "A lot of our infrastructure has been damaged, much of it quite significantly."
Eggers said the emergency rule change over absentee ballot meetings would be greatly appreciated by local elections officials in the affected areas.
"There are several county seats that still have no electricity, and I believe all five of the courthouses in my judicial district are going to be closed for the entire week," he added.
The State Board has launched a dedicated webpage for voters affected by Helene: NCSBE.gov/Helene.
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