As North Carolina begins voting, hurricane devastation complicates casting ballots
State officials are tracking impassable roads and contacting voters who requested absentee ballots to try to get them delivered.
NEWLAND, N.C. — The violent water smashed into the fellowship hall, pushing a propane tank through a wall, encasing the structure in mud and devastating the church in this mountain community just over a month before the hotly contested presidential race draws to a close.
“This is a flood like we’ve never had,” said Larry Jones, a deacon at Minneapolis Baptist Church, one of the polling places in rural Avery County ravaged by the remnants of Hurricane Helene last month. The site is one of several in the county unable to open in time for the election.
Three days after the storm, Jones and his wife managed to hike up to his elderly mother-in-law’s house by wading through mud up to their knees. The roads and bridges were blocked. He made it to his church a few days later and has been organizing volunteer efforts ever since.
Donations pile up at Minneapolis Baptist Church in Newland, N.C., on Wednesday, after its fellowship hall was damaged by Hurricane Helene’s remnants.Gabe Gutierrez / NBC News“It’s been a full-time job,” he said.
Helene’s crushing aftermath is colliding with another political storm Thursday as in-person early voting begins in North Carolina, one of several battlegrounds expected to play outsized roles in the election. In addition to the presidential race, voters in North Carolina will also decide on their controversial race for governor and contests for attorney general and state school superintendent.
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