North Carolina votes early after Hurricane Helene

On October 17, many polling stations opened for early voting in the battleground state of North Carolina, just weeks after Hurricane Helene hit the US, causing heavy damage to people and property.

US Vice President Kamala Harris (right) and former President Donald Trump during the first live debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 10, 2024. Photo: THX/TTXVN

More than 400 early voting sites across 100 counties in the state are scheduled to open by Nov. 2, said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections. Of those, 76 are in 25 counties in western North Carolina that are under a federal disaster declaration, slightly fewer than the 80 that were scheduled to open before Helene. The remaining four sites were not scheduled to open as previously planned because they were hardest hit by the storm. Helene, which made landfall in the southeastern United States, devastated remote towns across the Appalachian region and killed at least 246 people, more than half of whom died in North Carolina. It was the deadliest storm to hit the United States since Katrina in 2005. Thousands of people in western North Carolina are still without power or running water. But that hasn't stopped many from voting early in counties across the state. Brinson Bell said the beautiful weather on October 17 could help turnout be high across the state. She predicted early voting could hit a record high in all 100 counties on the first day.

In previous elections, more than 3.6 million early ballots, or 65% of the total, were cast in the 2020 election. In the 2016 election, early ballots were cast in 62%. Officials in 25 counties affected by Hurricane Helene are still assessing polling stations in preparation for Election Day on November 5. The vast majority of polling stations are expected to be open for voters.

Nguyen Hang (Vietnam News Agency)

Baotintuc.vn

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/the-gioi/bang-north-carolina-bo-phieu-som-sau-bao-helene-20241018121911937.htm