Voters in western North Carolina have turned out in record numbers despite ongoing recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene.
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00:00In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, North Carolina election officials were
00:04faced with a major challenge, ensuring voters in disaster-hit areas still had
00:08the opportunity to cast their ballots. The state quickly mobilized to provide
00:12options for early voting and on election day. Helene left a path of destruction
00:18that threatened to disrupt the democratic process for thousands of
00:21residents, but in the days following the hurricane, efforts began to restore
00:25essential services. This includes working with the Postal Service to ensure
00:28absentee ballot mail-ins and voter registrations could continue without
00:32delay. Local election offices got back up and running in just a week. To know that
00:38this has worked well, you look at the turnout and the fact that Western North
00:42Carolina is outpacing the rest of the state thus far. It's just a testament to
00:47the dedication and the extraordinary efforts by the election officials, by our
00:53partners at the state, local and federal levels, to make sure that even when
00:59devastation struck, that that did not stop voting. Legislation was passed to
01:05allow 25 disaster-affected counties to modify polling hours and locations as
01:10needed.