These are the same tyrannical criminals that welp about ‘voter suppression; in order to steal the vote.
Democrats In North Carolina’s Helene Disaster Area Block Emergency Early Voting Locations
By: Breccan F. Thies, The Federalist, October 25, 2024:
The havoc wrought by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina brought disaster to homes and families, but that has not stopped Democrats from blocking the approval of emergency early voting sites in the heavily Republican area. The refusal to act forced the GOP-led state legislature to intervene.
Democrat-run local elections boards in McDowell and Henderson counties have failed to approve additional early voting sites in the disaster-stricken area, despite increasing calls for more access to voting. Both counties voted for Donald Trump in 2020.
Ensuring the right to vote is upheld for western NC citizens devastated by Hurricane Helene should be a non-partisan issue,” western North Carolina native Clay McCreary said, according to The Carolina Journal. McReary is North Carolina political director of Restoration of America, an organization that has been advocating for additional voting opportunities in the disaster area. “We simply cannot allow the people of western North Carolina who have lost so much to lose their voice in the political process.”
Meanwhile, Democrats in nearby deep-blue Buncombe County, home to Asheville, have already given the go-ahead for new voting locations to replace the ones damaged by Helene, bringing the county’s total to 10.
Despite being mostly out of the news cycle, destruction in western North Carolina is still extreme, and the area has not yet recovered.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled General Assembly are now being forced to compel the two counties to open up more voting locations so that the people affected by Helene are not being disenfranchised by the Democrats in power.
The new law will require counties to open one early voting site per 30,000 registered voters in the Helene-affected region, and must be operational from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3. Henderson represents western North Carolina’s second-largest population next to Buncombe.
Right now, Buncombe maintains one early voting location per 28,000, whereas Henderson only has a single voting location for 120,000 residents. Under normal circumstances, Henderson would have three sites, and the legislation will now require the county to open three additional sites, bringing the number of early voting locations to four. While the Henderson County Board of Elections did approve a second location, it will only be open for two days in late October.
Republican state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, who represents Henderson, said she has heard from both Democrat and Republican constituents in her district who are concerned about the lack of voting sites.
McDowell is home to 45,000 and also only has one location. The legislation will mandate that the county open at least one additional location. The county elections board initially declined to open a second site after county Republican Party Chairman Chet Effler requested that an additional early voting site be opened at Old Fort Depot.
Article posted with permission from Pamela Geller
