14 of 19 polling locations in Avery County unusable after Helene

AVERY COUNTY, N.C. — Boards of elections across several mountain counties are working to ensure people impacted by flooding will be able to vote.

Early voting in North Carolina starts in just 10 days, but it could take months to repair roads in the High Country. In Avery County, Channel 9′s Dave Faherty learned 14 of 19 polling locations there can’t be used.

At one county office building, 4 feet of water inside left behind a pile of debris. Others are cut off because the roads are obstructed.

The Avery County Senior Center is home to one of the county’s bigger polling locations. But inside, there’s a layer of mud from the flooding in Newland.

Faherty learned the early voting location in Newland fortunately wasn’t damaged, but as storm relief efforts continue, cots have been set up inside for first responders. It’s the county’s only early voting location.

In the Minneapolis community of Avery County, workers are clearing one of the main bridges in town.

Shilow Burroughs showed Faherty the church they use to vote. It was so badly damaged by high water that they won’t be able to use it this year, but he said that won’t keep him from casting a ballot.

“If I have to walk 10 miles to vote, you know, I’m going to go,” Burroughs said. “We usually have it at our fellowship hall, but since that’s been damaged, I don’t know how they’ll do it now.”

Sheila Ollis, the director of Avery County’s Board of Elections, spoke with Faherty about the 300 ballots that have already been sent out.

“We are getting calls about ballots that have been damaged and they’re asking for another ballot,” she said. “So what we do is we spoil the ballot that we sent them that’s not useable anymore and the reissue another ballot. The ballot is not counted until we get it back to us.”

Ollis said early voting is crucial to Avery County. Faherty checked and in the last presidential election, 6,000 of the 9,500 voters in the county voted early in Newland.

In western Avery County where thousands are still in the dark, many of the residents Faherty spoke with said voting this year is as important as ever.

“We’re willing to help people, but we do need to get out and vote,” Jackie Winters said. “We do need to have God back in our country.”

In Asheville, though politics aren’t top of mind for many, we are less than one month away from Election Day. Polling locations are being used as distribution centers for basic needs like food and water. Some of those locations are filled with donations from neighboring counties.

Volunteers are now looking for new places for supplies so some polls can reopen on time.

Early voting in North Carolina starts Oct. 17. In South Carolina, it starts Oct. 21.

(WATCH BELOW: Essential services in Avery County destroyed by Helene)

Essential services in Avery County destroyed by Helene

©2024 Cox Media Group