Appalachian communities are still reeling from the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene. More than 230 people have died. Homes have washed away. And with major interstates likely to remain closed for months, many folks are struggling to access basic necessities.
And while addressing immediate survival needs remains a top priority, the timing of Hurricane Helene’s landfall, damage from the storm — and related misinformation — could impact the 2024 Election.
“Oftentimes, polling sites and facilities are damaged or unusable, maybe because they’re flooded or because they’ve lost power,” said David Becker, Executive Director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research during a media briefing on Oct. 9.
For these reasons, the North Carolina State Board of Elections unanimously approved accommodations for 13 counties hit hard by Helene. In these counties, local boards of elections can decide on a bipartisan majority basis to make various changes, including moving polling places or recruiting poll workers from different counties.
But Helene could also impact North Carolina voters who’ve already cast their ballots. Like most states impacted by the storm, North Carolina started sending out mail ballots before Helene’s landfall. And some mail ballots could have gotten lost or destroyed by high winds and floodwaters while moving to-and-from voters, Becker said.
Luckily, all of the states impacted by Helene allow voters to track their ballot status online. And if a voter’s ballot was never received by their local board of elections, that voter still has time to vote in person or request a duplicate mail-in ballot.
“In every single case — and this is very important — there is only one active ballot for any given voter anywhere in the United States at any given moment in time,” Becker said. “If a mail ballot has been sent out, that is coded in the voter file, and that voter either has to bring that ballot and surrender it in order to get a regular ballot or they will have to vote a provisional ballot, which will only be counted if that other ballot doesn’t come in.”
The phrase “duplicate mail ballot” could easily trigger conspiracy theories about voter fraud and folks cheating the system by casting multiple ballots. This is particularly concerning, given former President Donald Trump’s widely disproven claims that the 2020 Election was “stolen.”
Some Appalachian allies of the former president already seem poised to contest the 2024 Election results if he loses. Just days ago, several members of the West Virginia House of Delegates introduced a resolution stating West Virginia will not recognize any Democrat candidate for President if the Republican candidate is assassinated, injured during an assassination attempt, incarcerated, or in any way barred from any state ballot.
Helene-related disinformation is already spreading online, with some folks questioning whether the damage wrought across Appalachia was caused by a naturally-occuring hurricane. One false conspiracy theory suggests the hurricane was “artificially created” to lower land values and minimize compensation to homeowners when lithium mining begins in Western North Carolina next year.
“The disinformation environment is extremely bad right now and the response to the hurricane — even the existence of hurricanes — is just another part of it,” Becker said. “I mean, I did not have ‘They control the weather’ on my 2024 Bingo Card, but my bingo card is getting larger.”
Changes made by election officials – such as South Carolina extending its voter registration deadline — may also contribute to misinformation. But overall, election officials are trying to change as little as possible to avoid confusing voters and lessen the likelihood of decreases in voter turnout, Becker said.
“I’ll just point out also, we had the highest turnout in American history in the middle of a global pandemic in 2020,” Becker said. “So when voters really want to vote — and by all indications, voters really want to vote in this election — they find a way. And we should not take that for granted, rather we should be inspired by it. I expect that North Carolinians, Floridians, Georgians and others — despite the fact they’re going to be dealing with really difficult situations in many cases…I think Americans are going to rise to the challenge again.”
