In North Carolina, a critical swing state that will decide the 2024 presidential election, Hurricane Helene flooded polling places, closed election offices, disrupted mail-in ballot delivery, crippled communications systems and displaced millions of voters as it roared ashore in September. 27. With the election just weeks away, officials are scrambling to ensure residents’ voices continue to be heard.

“The destruction is unprecedented and this level of uncertainty so close to Election Day is disheartening,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections, said at a news conference earlier this month.

According to an analysis by Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College, Helene’s worst impact in North Carolina was concentrated in the western areas of the state, where Republican and independent voters combined make up three-quarters of registered voters. Last week, the state’s election board unanimously approved a list of emergency measures that will allow officials in the 13 hardest-hit counties to change times and locations for early voting sites, ease restrictions on absentee ballots and give them more freedom the recruitment of election workers.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley issued a press release welcoming the caucus’ move.

“North Carolinians who suffered from the onslaught of Hurricane Helene cannot also be deprived of their right to vote,” Whatley said in the news release, but with roads destroyed across much of the country, power still out in some counties and thousands of residents now live elsewhere, it remains to be seen how many North Carolina voters will be able to benefit from expanded early voting options.

“The impact is enormous”

In Georgia, which was also hit hard by Helene, election officials expressed confidence that the election would go ahead without major problems. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger reported shortly after the storm that election offices across the state “were spared significant, long-term damage.” He recently told local news media that all of Georgia’s 159 counties are “ready” for early voting to begin. The state set a new record Tuesday for the most votes cast on the first day of early voting, according to Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer of Raffensberger’s office.

But voting rights groups say states are not doing enough to ensure people affected by the storms can vote.

“Any time you change the rules, it’s difficult to get that message out,” Ceridwen Cherry, legal director for the voting rights organization VoteRiders, told Yahoo News. “And especially if you’re someone who’s just been hit by something like a hurricane, and voting may not already be top of mind, the impact is huge.”

One of the biggest disputes was the voter registration deadline. North Carolina allows same-day registration for in-person early voting. But registration deadlines in Florida and Georgia have already passed and authorities rejected requests to reopen registration windows in light of the storms.

“People can register today,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Oct. 8, the last day to register to vote in his state. “There is nothing stopping you from signing up today.”

Complaints

Lawsuits have been filed in a few states to force officials to temporarily reopen registration. A court ordered South Carolina to extend the voter registration deadline by 10 days. However, similar lawsuits were rejected in Georgia and Florida.

“Florida residents should not have to juggle between fleeing for their lives and protecting their property with fulfilling their civic duties,” co-chairs of the League of Women Voters of Florida wrote after their effort to reopen registration failed were.

In dismissing the Georgia lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross argued the groups had failed to show that the storms significantly affected anyone’s ability to vote. “I don’t think we had a single voter who was or was likely to be harmed by not registering,” she said.

Close race

It is not the first time that a natural disaster has occurred shortly before election day. Previous examples suggest that the disruptions do not significantly impact elections, but may have only minor effects that could prove important in extremely close elections. A study found that Hurricane Michael, which hit Florida in October 2018, reduced voter turnout in the Florida Panhandle by 13,000 votes. In 2020, President Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies have falsely claimed that the Biden administration neglected the same Republican-leaning areas hit by the storms and where access to early voting was extended. It remains to be seen whether rampant misinformation about the federal emergency response could turn voters against Vice President Kamala Harris or whether Trump himself could pay a price.

In a press conference Tuesday, Bell said she was “proud” of the work being done across her state to give residents the opportunity to cast their ballot.

“The people of Western North Carolina are going to vote,” she said.