Former President Trump’s campaign hinted at Election Day transportation options for those impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in the southeastern region of the United States.
“As President Trump said when we were on the ground in Georgia surveying the damage – may I add he went there before Kamala Harris or Joe Biden did – he said we care most about lives, protecting lives, saving people’s livelihoods. Their businesses were destroyed, their homes were destroyed.” Trump Campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends First.”
“With that said, it’s very important that voters are not disenfranchised, and our campaign leadership sent out a letter to state and local officials on the ground in North Carolina saying, ‘You need to provide as many accessible voting locations as possible on the ground.’ Our campaign is reviewing how we can possibly provide transportation for voters who need to get to the polls and ensuring they have access to the ballot box,” Leavitt added. “They have faced this destruction through no fault of their own. And this is Trump country. This is western North Carolina. These are our people. We’re focused on taking care of them and making sure that their right to vote still remains even in the wake of this disaster.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) for more information. The Washington Examiner reported last week that there are nearly 1.3 million registered voters across the 25 countries in western North Carolina designated a federal disaster area after Hurricane Helene. Trump carried North Carolina in the 2020 election by merely 75,000 votes.
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Debris is seen in front of a home with a Trump 2024 campaign sign in Lake Lure, North Carolina, Oct. 2, 2024, after the passage of Hurricane Helene. (Allison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images)
In an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” last week, RNC co-chair Lara Trump said the committee sent out a memorandum to Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and the North Carolina General Assembly that provided 10 recommendations on ensuring voter access after the disaster.
“We don’t want people who have gone through a horrific tragedy like a hurricane who have really lost so much already to lose their ability to vote in this election,” Lara Trump said.
A view from Team Trump Bus Tour featuring House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, Hogan Gidley, Kash Patel, Chad Wolf, Abel Maldonado and Brooke Rollins in Charlotte, North Carolina on Oct. 10, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
North Carolina State Board of Elections officials announced that 75 of the 80 early voting sites planned across the 25 counties that fall within the federal diaster area of western North Carolina will reopen on Thursday, when early voting is set to begin in the Tar Heel State.
“This is absolutely outstanding that our county boards of elections have pulled this off in western North Carolina, given the devastation and destruction left by Helene,” State Board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said at a press conference last week, according to the Carolina Journal. “We will be ready even in western North Carolina thanks to the extremely hard work of county election officials across the state and dedicated state board officials as well.”
The state election officials are still coordinating with North Carolina Emergency Management and FEMA to secure portable restrooms, generators and trailers and other support for the 540 polling places located within the 25-county area of devastation ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5.
People walk past a destroyed church in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding on Oct. 6, 2024, in Swannanoa, North Carolina. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The state legislature approved $5 million in emergency funding for the State Board of Elections to deal with the storm’s effects, and state lawmakers also expanded emergency measures put in place by the election board that allow counties to modify early voting days and locations.
On Friday, the Buncombe County Board of Elections approved new times and locations for early voting.
Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., sounded the alarm on voter access in an interview with Fox News Digital last week, expressing concern after his district was one of those badly impacted by Hurricane Helene.
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“Folks are still in the process of putting their lives together, desperately trying to get their power back on, trying to get in touch with their loved ones, trying to dig out from the debris and not really thinking that there’s an election coming up here in three weeks or so,” Edwards said.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.