TRUMP-VANCE CALL ON NORTH CAROLINA LEADERS TO EXPAND VOTER ACCESS IN COUNTIES ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA IMPACTED BY HELENE
October 08, 2024
Today the Trump-Vance Campaign is asking Governor Roy Cooper and the North Carolina General Assembly to swiftly enact an expansion of voter access for North Carolinians who live in the areas of the state suffering from the impact of Hurricane Helene.
“These 10 improvements in voting access in North Carolina will ensure the people who have already suffered from the storm don’t lose their right to participate in this important election. Swift action from the North Carolina General Assembly and the Governor will ensure the people of their state have their voices heard on November 5th,” said Trump-Vance Campaign Campaign Managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.
- Ensure Election Day Voting Locations provide the ability for any voter in the impacted county to vote from that location, instead of just their local precinct.
- Expanding bipartisan election official teams (known as MAT or Multipartisan Assistance Teams) to have the ability to assist displaced voters in requesting and delivering absentee ballots to the county boards.
- Allow voters who have been displaced to another North Carolina county to have the ability to deliver their absentee ballot in the new county or to the State Board.
- Require absentee ballots that are returned to the county board in the county the voter is temporarily residing in to be returned to the voter’s county board as soon as possible but at a minimum once a week and with strict chain-of-custody requirements. Including a log for when voters return absentee ballots and a code that denotes that the ballot was accepted outside of the county.
- Allow voters who have been displaced to another North Carolina county to have the ability to vote a provisional ballot on election day, which will be delivered back to and processed at the voter’s correct County Board of Elections.
- Allocate an adequate amount of emergency funds for additional communication via digital, radio, broadcast, and text to affected voters with updated means of voting.
- Waive the uniformity requirement for Early Voting site times in the impacted counties, including the opportunity for voting on Sunday. Allow impacted counties to change their early voting plans and election day precinct locations to maximize the in-person voting opportunities within the affected counties. Additionally, the county board should be able to commandeer government owned buildings without having to follow the statutorily required negotiations.
- Allow the affected county boards to use temporary structures as voting locations during Early Voting and on Election Day.
- Waive the residency requirement for poll workers to serve in the affected counties. Allow for the temporary appointment of non-partisan election officials who live out of county where there are vacancies created by the displacement of the current election officials.
- Waive the county residency requirement for poll observers to be appointed by the county political party chair in the affected counties.
