Hurricane-Hit Areas of Western North Carolina Lead Record-Breaking Turnout Across the State

More than 4 million ballots cast as western counties affected by Hurricane Helene show higher turnout, surpassing 2020 numbers.

AP/Jeff Roberson
People ride in the back of a pickup truck on a mud-covered street left in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, October 1, 2024, at Marshall, North Carolina. AP/Jeff Roberson

Early turnout for in-person voting in North Carolina has broken a record for the state, with more than 4 million ballots already cast. The largest turnout was in the western portion of the state ravaged by Hurricane Helene, far outpacing the number of early voting in neighboring counties.

More than half of the state’s population of 7.8 million, including absentee voters, accounted for 4,465,548 completed ballots as of Sunday morning, the final day for early voting in the state. The 25 counties affected by Helene saw a turnout 2 percent higher than the other 75 counties in the state, according to the Associated Press.

North Carolina already had broken their previous early voting record in 2020 of 3.63 million votes by Thursday, days before the early voting window closed.

President Trump won a majority of the 25 counties that comprise the western portion of the state during the last presidential election, with Buncombe County, where the normally democratic city of Asheville is located, being the one exception.

“I am proud of all of our 100 county boards of elections and the thousands of election workers who are making this happen in their communities,” the state board executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, said in a statement.

The high turnout, especially in the western portion of the state, was a response to Republicans pushing people to vote early. In addition, North Carolina is also holding elections for a new governor, attorney general, and several other positions with the state’s General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump has also increased campaign efforts in the state, with those close to him saying his team is worried about his prospects there. “If there’s one state that could bite you in the a–, it’s North Carolina,” one Trump campaign official said according to NBC News.


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