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By Stephanie Kelly
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Carolina election officers are scrambling to verify the state’s over 7 million registered voters can forged a poll within the upcoming presidential election, after flooding from Hurricane Helene prompted in depth injury within the western a part of the state.
North Carolina is one in every of seven “battleground” states which can be anticipated to find out whether or not Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris is the subsequent president of the USA.
“The destruction is unprecedented, and this stage of uncertainty, this near Election Day is daunting,” Karen Brinson-Bell, government director of the state’s board of elections, mentioned on Tuesday.
Twelve county election workplaces are closed in western North Carolina because of the storm, with the Oct. 11 voter registration deadline quick approaching, she mentioned. However no voting gear or ballots have been broken within the storm, she mentioned.
The state expects to have a full evaluation of the impacts of the storm on election services and different points by mid to late week, she mentioned.
The board has arrange an internet site with Helene-related voting info, is working with the U.S. Postal Service to make sure receipt of absentee poll and can proceed to permit voters to register on-site with proof of handle, she mentioned.
A whole lot of houses have been destroyed in western North Carolina and residents displaced; some city and village facilities have been worn out by sudden flooding after the storm.
North Carolina is one in every of a number of states focused by Republicans with new restrictive voting legal guidelines. Democrats hope to flip the state to again Harris in November, which might be the primary time since 2008 North Carolina voters backed a Democrat.
Requested whether or not the modifications, upheaval and uncertainty would impression individuals’s religion within the election outcomes, Brinson-Bell mentioned the state would nonetheless depend on precinct ballot books and post-election verification checks, even when voters must vote differently than regular.
“It is not going to cease how we do elections. Simply because there’s been a hurricane, we’d must do it a little bit otherwise.”
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