Not even Helene's catastrophic impact on western North Carolina has dampened enthusiasm among the state's registered voters.
By Friday afternoon, more than 3.7 million voters had cast in-person ballots across the state, with early voting continuing until 3 p.m. on Saturday. And with absentee-by-mail ballot returns so far, 2024 turnout has exceeded 4 million voters, or more than 51% of the state's registered voters.
"That beats the total early voting turnout of 2020 when more than 3,629,000 voters turned out to vote early," Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, told reporters during an online news conference on Friday morning.
And Brinson Bell said that turnout among voters in western North Carolina counties slammed by Helene has outpaced the rest of the state, even though the devastating storm forced local elections officials to alter hours in some places and to relocate some polling sites.
In her remarks, Brinson Bell paid tribute to what she called the "resilient and strong people of western North Carolina."
Strong turnout also expected for Election Day
Elections officials still expect to see a million additional voters flock to the polls on Election Day, this Tuesday, when polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. But Brinson Bell said elections officials are prepared for the high Election Day turnout.
"Our work is to figure out the logistics, to figure out the line management, to figure out the site management, and to prepare for 100% turnout," Brinson Bell said. "I don't know that we'll ever see that, but we would love to see that."
"And," she added, "if we break that 75% turnout that we had in 2020 all the better, we're ready for it."
She reminded voters that many counties have implemented online trackers that provide information on wait-times at polling locations.
During early voting, a voter may go to any polling location in their county, but on Election Day, in-person voters must go to their assigned precinct.
For Helene evacuees temporarily sheltering away from their home county, they may drop off their absentee ballots at an early voting site or the local elections office in the county where they are staying.
Not all votes are counted at the end of Election Day
As always, people will have to await final, official results for the elections. While the outcome of many races could be clear by the close of polls on Election Day, there will still be many ballots to count and process in the days that follow, during the 10-day period known as the county canvass.
As Paul Cox, the state elections board's general counsel, explained, not all ballots get counted on Election Day, but get processed by county election boards during the post-election audit period that culminates with county certification, or canvass, ten days later.
Absentee-by-mail ballots submitted by military and overseas citizens may be received up to nine days after Election Day, or the day before the county canvass.
By state law, according to Cox, absentee ballots that arrive at a county elections board on Election Day will be counted during the post-election canvass period. And then there are provisional ballots, cast, for example, by voters who show up at the wrong precinct, or come to a polling site without a photo ID and either fill out an exception form or bring a valid ID to their local elections board before the county canvass.
Cox noted 2024 is the first year with a photo ID requirement in effect for a general election, much less a presidential contest.
"What this means," Cox said, "is that the number of provisional ballots that we're going to see this election may be higher than what we're accustomed to."
The closer the race, the longer it could take to finalize results because of the outstanding votes that need to be processed and counted after Election Day.
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Elections officials prepared for unrest
Brinson Bell said she and other elections officials are well aware the attention North Carolina is getting as a potential battleground state in the presidential race. And she said she and her colleagues must acknowledge the kind of post-election unrest seen in states like Georgia and Pennsylvania in 2020, when Donald Trump and his supporters protested the outcome of that year's presidential election based on false claims of fraud.
Brinson Bell said she hopes no elections officials will be subject to threats or harassment this year, "but knowing that this has happened, that means it could happen again."
Brinson Bell adds that county elections offices have implemented safeguards to protect their staff and ensure the integrity of the elections process.
"In some cases," she explained, "it's panic buttons, some offices have installed bullet-proof glass, some have changed the makeup of their entryways to still be transparent in their process but to limit access into secure areas."
