Emergency ballot measure gets $5 million from NC lawmakers

State allocates $5 million for election assistance after Helene extended emergency measures

Typically, state agencies are lucky if their state legislature gives them the amount of money and resources they request. Very rarely does a legislature provide more than is required.

But that was the case on Wednesday, when the North Carolina General Assembly approved $5 million for election administration in 25 counties affected by Tropical Storm Helene.

The State Board of Elections initially requested $2.1 million to support the conduct of elections in 13 counties where voting infrastructure, polling place accessibility and postal and transportation disruptions “continue to be significantly impacted by Tropical Storm Helene.” ” are.

Instead, they will receive $5 million to help the 25 counties that were included in the federally declared disaster area last week: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson , Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey counties.

This excludes Swain and Mecklenburg, which were recently included in the federal declaration.

Lawmakers also codified emergency measures approved by the state board on Monday while expanding certain measures.

The Disaster Recovery Act of 2024, which provides a total of $273 million in initial recovery assistance, passed unanimously in both legislative chambers. It comes into effect immediately.

Lawmakers told reporters that the Legislature will return to an initially unscheduled session on Oct. 24 to pass additional relief packages.

“Recovering from Hurricane Helene will be no easy task, but I believe we – the state of North Carolina, the people of North Carolina – are up to the task,” the Senate leader said Phil Berger said. “Today we are meeting for the first disaster relief package for Hurricane Helene. This is just a first step for us as lawmakers.”

What is the funding for state elections paid for?

The Disaster Recovery Act directs the state board to “use all reasonable efforts” to meet the needs of each county board of elections, including by providing direct grants or reimbursements.

Funds can be used to hire temporary poll workers, provide mobile voting units, equipment and supplies, train new poll workers or county officials, communicate with voters through postal notices about election changes, reprint mail-in ballots, purchase emergency communications systems for counties, etc. to ensure access to polls Technology and internet connectivity.

Helene “has dealt a serious blow to the possibility of holding elections in the districts affected by the disaster,” Berger said.

“We felt it was necessary to not only provide the state board with adequate resources to do what they need to do because of the changes that are taking place, but also some flexibility so that local boards can receive some of that money.” “We’re helping with some of the cash flow issues and some of the deficits they may have,” he said.

The State Board of Elections did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

What emergency measures has the state approved?

On Monday, the State Council unanimously approved a litany of emergency measures to ensure elections in the 13 hardest-hit counties go ahead as scheduled.

Lawmakers voted to codify these emergency measures for the November 2024 election.

In addition, some measures were added and the measures were expanded to the 25 districts.

The state board’s emergency measures allowed county election offices to change early voting locations, days and hours, as well as move voters from one Election Day county polling place to another or move voting precincts within or even outside the county.

When multiple precincts are combined into one polling location, the materials, tabulators and voting processes for each precinct within the site remain separate.

The Legislature codified those measures but directed county governments to resort to moving polling places outside the county “only as a last resort.”

The board also allowed county boards of elections to appoint election officials who are registered voters from other North Carolina counties for early voting and on Election Day, provided a bipartisan majority approved.

Poll workers could be moved to different locations to maintain a minimum level of knowledge and experience at each polling location.

The state legislature went further and allowed registered North Carolina voters in any county who are otherwise eligible to vote as:

• Chief judge or judge of a district;
• assistants or student poll workers in districts;
• selector switch; or
• Employee of an early voting website.

State employees who hold one of these positions may do so without taking vacation.

These replacement poll workers may need training. The bill directs the state board to develop training programs for county election boards, county directors, full-time county election board employees, chief judges, and any other county officials appointed to replace, supplement, or assist in the 2024 election.

The state board has made several changes to absentee voting. Given the complications with the mail delivery system in the storm-affected region, they are allowing voters, their close relatives or verifiable guardians to do some things in person at county election offices that previously had to be done by mail.

Voters, their close relatives or verifiable legal guardians can request absentee ballots, have destroyed or lost ballots canceled and reissued, and pick up documentation in person to “repair” ballots with a problem. The district election committee will keep a record of these activities.

Voters themselves can return postal ballots in person on election day, whereas this was previously only possible for early voting. You can return them to any county election board or the state election board by 7:30 p.m. on election day, and those boards will deliver them to the correct election board until the day before canvassing, when the official results are determined.

When this occurs, the receiving county board of elections or state board will date stamp the ballot envelope and then send the ballot to the appropriate county by mail or in person in a secure, sealed container with clear documentation of the ballot’s chain of custody.

Lawmakers codified those measures while increasing the reporting requirement for counties receiving mail-in ballots for storm-affected counties from weekly to daily.

Berger said the change is intended to ensure that no one has to wait a week after Election Day to find out how many of those mail-in ballots there are.

“I suspect it won’t be much,” he said. “But we don’t know that, and so we just felt that a daily report would give us a better idea of ​​how many ballots we would need to cast in the event of a really close election, so that we would be accountable for that.”

There are a few other additions to the Disaster Recovery Act of 2024.

Under the law, the state board will set up a hotline for displaced voters to ask questions. It directs the board to use traditional mail, mass communications such as email addresses and phone numbers on file, local media and county political parties “as soon as possible after approval” of an election change.

Educational materials will be posted on the State Board website and distributed to state agencies, shelters, and other groups serving displaced populations. The board will establish a process for bipartisan teams to assist affected voters with absentee voting.

“These are all common-sense steps we can take to ensure that Western North Carolinians can vote in affected counties, no matter where they are in the state of North Carolina,” Berger said.

By April 15, 2025, the State Board of Elections must submit a report to the state evaluating these emergency measures and recommending future emergency plans.

District response

Yancey County Supervisor of Elections Mary Beth Tipton must replace 11 polling stations on election day – and that’s all of them.

After reopening the county elections office for early voting on Monday, Tipton has been fully focused on preparing for Election Day.

Her office only has two employees, but she has to take the time to be on site to find a flat spot in the precinct where people can park and a tent can be set up for voting.

“I don’t want them to travel, they’ve already lost enough,” Tipton said. “I want to be able to go to my voters and not have my voters come to me to be able to vote. I want it to stay as normal as possible. We need normality.”

Cell phone reception is spotty, and Wi-Fi is even more spotty, she added. They have no water and no portable toilets.

She said Yancey County could likely use every single one of the approved election funding purposes the state legislated Wednesday.

“The money is greatly appreciated,” Tipton said.

In Rutherford County, the focus will be on resending mail-in ballots to displaced voters, the elections director said Dawn Lovelace said. They may seek government funding to cover printing costs, but beyond that, Lovelace doesn’t expect to ask for significant help.

Counties outside of the 13 hardest-hit counties did not appear to have many requests for funding yet. A Macon County election official said they don’t need to change precincts and probably won’t need much of the $5 million provided.

Alexander County Supervisor of Elections Patrick Wike They said they are still evaluating what flexibility the law provides, but none of their polling places were damaged by the storm and power is almost fully restored.

Lovelace said she thinks the relief package reflects an understanding of the devastation that has taken place.

“If they got more than they asked for, I think it’s because people recognize the importance of elections and how important it is to make sure everyone’s votes are counted,” she said.

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