The Marion and Old Fort early voting sites are about a 15-minute drive apart, but on a sunny Wednesday afternoon in late October, the scenes in each location were vastly different.

At the McDowell County Board of Elections in Marion, which has an early voting site for the 2024 election, the parking lot was full. Although there was no line, a steady stream of voters flowed in and out of the building. The roads leading to the site were mostly clear, with some mud and downed trees pushed to the shoulders — remnants of Hurricane Helene’s impact in late September. Outside, volunteers from both Republican and Democratic parties set up stations to engage with voters.

Old Fort — a small town of about 800 residents — was fairly quiet. Along Catawba Avenue, which is traversed by Mill Creek, storm damage was extensive. Heavily battered homes lined the street amid scattered debris.

Originally designated as an early voting site, Old Fort’s location was closed, rerouting voters to Marion. The Old Fort Wesleyan Church, initially planned as a polling place for Election Day, also suffered extensive damage from Helene, with mud covering the interior up to the joists, rendering the building unusable.

Officials across Western North Carolina have been scrambling to ensure that voters can access polling places after Helene damaged several sites and impacted essential infrastructure. In the wake of the storm, some residents have faced challenges reaching the polls.

The stakes are high, as North Carolina is a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential election. The state’s mountain region also has a diverse political landscape that includes predominantly Democratic Asheville in Buncombe County, with the outskirts of the county leaning slightly more Republican. Meanwhile, the majority of counties in Western North Carolina tend to favor the GOP.

Unlike in neighboring Buncombe County, which had to reduce early voting sites because of vacancies, the smaller McDowell County hasn’t had difficulty staffing voting sites despite Helene’s destruction, said Kimberly Welborn, the elections director in McDowell.

“There’s people that actually lost their homes and they want to work,” she said. “That’s their duty, and that’s the way they feel.”

Concerns about voters struggling to reach the polls

Shortly after the storm, lawmakers passed a bill aiming to make it easier for residents of Western North Carolina to vote by allowing counties to change polling sites, giving them more flexibility in how they hire election workers and giving affected voters more options to get absentee ballots in. More recently, lawmakers also passed legislation expanding the number of early voting sites in two Republican-leaning counties, Henderson and McDowell.

Voter turnout – in person and via absentee voting – was higher during the first eight days of early voting on average in Helene-impacted counties than it was statewide.

Still, residents in McDowell, Buncombe, Mitchell, and Haywood counties expressed concerns to The News & Observer in late October about voters struggling to reach the polls, especially those without transportation.

And some shared stories of voting despite personal hardships, such as losing their homes or businesses.

Erin Stewart, 30, is one such resident navigating challenges. Volunteering at the Old Fort Wesleyan Church, she helped pack clothing and other donations into boxes outside. Volunteers, led by Denton Wesleyan Church, had set up a table with supplies for community members to take.

Stewart had moved to Old Fort from Black Mountain in Buncombe County just two months ago. Living “just down the road” from the church, she felt fortunate that her home had been mostly OK after Helene, aside from some trees falling on her property, including one that clipped her garage. “Compared to some others, we’re fortunate for sure,” she said.

While she had not voted yet, Stewart planned to go on Election Day to Montford Cove in McDowell, which she found to be “easy access” for her. As for her presidential vote, she was still deciding and would choose based on “what will be best for my family, my community.”

Meanwhile, Phyllis Fitzgerald, 68, typically votes early in Old Fort. But on Oct. 22, with no Old Fort early voting site, she was voting in Marion.

“Some of the bridges are still out, so you have to go the interstate,” she said. “It’s still a mess, but it’s making progress.”

“I think there’s still a lot of people that are trapped and can’t get out to vote. So I think a lot of people who would normally vote will not just because of that,” she said.

McDowell County’s recovery

In the predominantly Republican-leaning town of Marion, early voting has seen a strong turnout so far, said Linda Brown, a 70-year-old resident of Nebo in McDowell County, campaigning for Republicans outside the Marion voting site on Tuesday. This didn’t seem like it would be the case at first, she said, as “there were trees down everywhere, there were light lines — I still don’t have internet.”

But local recovery efforts “were good,” and “it was really, really good the way people came together,” she said.

Still, not all voters will get out, said Daniel Womick, who is 68 and was campaigning with Brown. “Some of them should be here, but not all, of course,” he said.

With six days until Election Day, early in-person voter turnout has risen by 2 percentage points from 2020 in the 25 Western North Carolina counties within the Helene disaster area, according to data from the State Board of Elections.

However, when including both in-person and absentee votes, turnout statewide and in Helene-affected counties is down from 2020.

Spokesperson Patrick Gannon has previously attributed this to delays in mailing absentee ballots and the fact that more people voted by mail in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Still, total turnout in the affected counties across all voting methods was 44.9%, higher than the statewide average of 43.2%.

In McDowell County, with six days until Election Day, overall voter turnout was 44%, slightly below the 45% seen by the same point in 2020. But in-person early voting was up by almost 6 points.

Margaret Belk, a 58-year-old Democratic volunteer from Asheville, also at the Marion early voting site, said the impacts of the storm had been “indiscriminate.”

“One person’s house will be OK, and then the neighbor’s won’t” be, she said — pointing to Old Fort as an area hit especially hard, forcing the Democratic county headquarters to shut down.

Belk — who has been housing a displaced family in her Asheville home while staying in her second residence in Marion — said she chose to volunteer in Marion because Asheville, while heavily impacted, has “maybe more available Democrats than here.”

“When I heard there was only one polling place, I just decided to reach out,” said Belk. “There’s lots of holes. And they need volunteers.”

A married Republican couple, Bruce and Gail Evans, who were voting in Marion, said they lost their camper at Lake James after 34 inches of water flooded it. Despite this, they never considered not voting, as “there’s too much on the line,” said 65-year old Bruce Evans.

“Our grandchildren and the world they’re going to be growing up in” are too important, said 64-year-old Gail Evans, citing inflation as a concern.

Meanwhile, Dennis and Jeanie Kuenze, a Democratic married couple, said they were voting for Vice President Kamala Harris. For Jeanie, who is 66, “women’s rights are just a very big thing,” she said, citing the enactment of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974, which gave women the right to obtain a credit card without a man as a co-signer. “It’s not that far away, and I’m not going back there,” she added.

As for Helene’s impact on voting, Jeanie Kuenze focused on FEMA, saying there were so many “lies” from Republicans about a lacking response.

“FEMA was everywhere. My son lives in Asheville. The first response was clearing those roads to get emergency vehicles through. They were all over the place,” she said, adding that the Red Cross and other organizations, including local ones, jumped in to help.

Voting sites still up and running in Mitchell and Haywood counties

No early voting sites closed in Mitchell County, which has consistently voted strongly Republican, nor in Haywood County, which, though also leaning Republican, has a somewhat more competitive political landscape.

The early voting site in the Mitchell County seat of Bakersville on Tuesday afternoon was largely empty, with only a trio of people walking into the site while The N&O was there. Those were county board of elections chairman Luther Stroup, member Sam McKinney, and secretary Meredith Hoilman.

McKinney told The N&O the election was going “very smoothly,” noting that early voting turnout had been “a little heavier” in the county compared to past elections but was beginning to taper off.

Still, “there will be people who will be hard-pressed to get out to vote,” McKinney said. “There are people who don’t have roads, bridges or access to cars,” he added, mentioning his daughter had lost both of her cars to Helene.

In Mitchell County, overall voter turnout was 45.9%, below the 55.2% seen by the same point in 2020, according to state board data six days before Election Day. In-person early voting was down by a smaller margin.

At the other early voting site in Mitchell County, the Spruce Pine Fire Department, turnout was also light when The N&O stopped by in the evening.

One person heading in to vote was Trey Hendrixon, 20 years old, who said he was voting for former President Donald Trump and that this was his first time voting in a presidential election.

Hendrixon said he wanted his “input heard” and cited Trump’s past leadership as president as a factor in his decision. For Hendrixon, key issues were the economy and housing, as he hopes to buy a home in the future, he said.

Although his ability to vote wasn’t affected by Helene, Hendrixon said he had been out of work for a week as an electrician and, like many in the area, went without water, had limited food and lost power for over a week.

Although Haywood County didn’t have to make any changes to its early voting plan, several Election Day sites were affected by the storm’s destruction, according to Robert Inman, the county elections director.

One of them, the Jonathan Creek Fire Station, was rendered unusable by Helene — but voters assigned to that precinct won’t have to go far to get their vote in. The National Guard will set up a portable voting facility in the parking lot.

“Everything possible is being done at all levels to ensure that everybody has access to their ballot without exception,” Inman said.

State board data showed Haywood County with a 48.1% turnout with six days until Election Day, down from 51.2% in 2020. But in-person early voting in 2024 was up, from 39.3% to 45.4%.

At the Pennsylvania Avenue early voting location in Canton, Randy Fox, 67, said that he had no issues getting to the polls despite Helene’s impact.

Although a tree had fallen on his property, he said he had been “pretty fortunate.” Fox said he never doubted his ability to vote and didn’t “see any reason why anybody couldn’t come out and vote,” noting that most roads had reopened.

Fox, who said he is voting for Harris in the presidential election, said he wants change and believes a woman could bring about improvements. He hopes Harris will prioritize policies like Medicare and Medicaid and address the high cost of prescription drugs — key issues for him as a retiree.

Buddy and Darlene Yates, a married couple from Canton, both 55, also voted at the Pennsylvania Avenue site. The Yateses said they typically vote early there and hadn’t faced any issues this year. While they didn’t know anyone personally affected by Helene to the point they couldn’t vote, Buddy noted that “some people won’t be able to” due to washed-out roads, especially in more remote mountain areas.

Despite the storm, the Yateses said they had observed higher turnout this year compared to previous elections. They said they were voting for Trump. “He’s more for the middle class,” Buddy said.

Buncombe County

Buncombe County, especially Asheville, leans strongly Democratic and has the largest population in Western North Carolina, making it a regional hub compared to the smaller, more conservative counties nearby.

Buncombe County had planned to open 14 early voting sites but could only open 10.

Corinne Duncan, the county elections director, said they realized they had to reduce the early voting plan after finding out that only two-thirds of the workers they’d planned to staff the polls would actually be available.

Among the closed early voting sites was the Friendship Center on Shiloh Road. That site featured a sign in favor of Harris directing voters to any one of the 10 other early voting sites open in Buncombe County.

Another was the Bee Tree fire station in Swannanoa. Instead, the site was serving as a FEMA mobile disaster recovery center, where people could get in-person Helene relief support. A sign there told people their nearest early voting site was in Black Mountain, about a 15-minute drive east.

One early voting site that remained open and unaffected by Helene was at UNC Asheville, which on Wednesday saw a steady stream of people, with around 20 waiting in line at any given time. Few of those in line appeared to be students.

Turnout data with six days until Election Day showed Buncombe’s overall turnout at 43.1% in 2024, down dramatically from 55.9% in 2020. Early in-person voting turnout data showed Buncombe at 40.4% in 2024 and 41% in 2020.

Brian Orr, 47, was one of those severely affected by the damage in Asheville, yet he still made it to the polls at UNC Asheville on Wednesday to vote.

Orr, who moved to Asheville in January, is a partner at Cardinal Designs, a fiber arts business that worked out of Local Cloth in the River Arts District.

The studio, located right next to the French Broad River, was shuttered after the river crested at over 24 feet, surpassing the 1916 record.

This left Orr without a source of income, and he said that he and his business partner won’t be returning to the business, meaning he would need to seek a job, likely as substitute teacher, in the coming months.

The area around Local Cloth, including other businesses on Depot Street, was strewn with debris, and many of the shuttered businesses had interiors stripped to the beams, with fans running to dry them out. Orr’s own apartment, about a block from the UNC Asheville voting site, was flooded, forcing him to relocate, he said. His comics and other personal belongings were damaged in the flood, he said.

Despite his circumstances, Orr said he “felt like it was so important to vote,” citing Project 2025 (which Trump has disavowed but which was written by some of his former staffers) and women’s health access as primary motivators.

A Harris supporter, he highlighted her plans to tax billionaires and broaden Medicare as important, though he said he was “sketchy” on her stance on Israel and Palestine.

He also celebrated the historic nature of Harris’s potential presidency as both a Black and Asian American candidate, and expressed his dislike for “all the talk” and “misinformation“ Trump was spreading about FEMA and the federal government not doing their job.

As for Helene’s effect on turnout, Orr said “other than the ones who are still missing unfortunately, I don’t think it will be hard for people to vote, especially with early voting.”

He said it would have been more difficult for him to vote if he only had the option to vote on Election Day but there are “options” with early voting and absentee voting.

Another early voter was 73-year-old Brenda Golden, who was displaced from her apartment bordering the Swannanoa River. The river begins near Black Mountain, flows through communities like Swannanoa, and ends in Asheville, where it joins the French Broad River.

Golden, who was walking around the early voting polls with her puppy, Walnut, said she voted early on the first Saturday of early voting at UNC Asheville. Since then, she’s been out at the site every day to walk because “it makes my heart feel better.”

But it’s not her usual voting spot, she said.

Golden lived in a fourth-floor apartment at River Mill Lofts & Skyloft. On Thursday, Sept. 27, when the impacts of Helene began to be felt across Western North Carolina, Golden moved her car to higher ground near an apartment complex called The District. Some neighbors did the same, but many others did not, and their cars were wrecked and scattered by the floodwaters, she said.

After leaving her car, she returned to her apartment, thinking she could weather the storm there. However, by early Friday morning, she decided to evacuate as floodwaters continued to rise at alarming speeds. She spent the rest of the storm in her car on the hill.

Now, as her apartment is under construction following the damage, Golden has bounced around various living arrangements and is renting month to month in a small apartment about half a mile from the UNC Asheville early voting site. “I only wanted to move once at this point in my life,” she said, but, “I’m staying in Asheville.”

She said she has received aid from FEMA but largely lives off Social Security disability benefits.

Golden is concerned that some people may not be aware of the changes in early voting site locations. She said she thinks some individuals in the hardest-hit areas “are not voting.”

Despite this, she has seen extraordinary community efforts and hopes people will be able to get the information they need from one another. Golden, who voted for Harris, chatted with multiple people at the UNC Asheville location on Wednesday and said she would continue to inform them about new voting locations, regardless of political affiliation.

Golden said she always brings Walnut with her on her walks to the voting sites because “it makes them smile.”

“We help each other, and (political affiliation) doesn’t really matter,” she said.

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