Hurricane Helene disrupts early voting at UNC-Asheville

North Carolina college voters could play a decisive role in the presidential election. But Hurricane Helene brought new challenges to selecting an already incredible group of voters.

The weekend before the election at UNC-Asheville will be crazy for freshman Steven Nguyen, who is one of the few students leading a nonpartisan effort there to maximize voter turnout. Students don’t start returning to campus until this week evacuation due to storm. Meanwhile, early voting ends on Saturday, and with it the last chance to register and vote at the same time.

“It makes it harder for us because some students have either registered in another state or haven’t registered yet, and that’s where early voting helps the most,” said Nguyen, 18. “But in this case, it’s not for those people, We’re really out of luck when it comes to helping them.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the campus was quiet except for the sound of the wind blowing fallen leaves across the sidewalks near the empty bike racks. The student union, originally designated as an early voting site before it was moved to the campus health center after Helene, it was empty.

Nguyen is staying with a friend until she returns to her dorm on Friday, according to the university’s move-in schedule. He voted early in Buncombe County and is very involved in this election. In addition to working to get his colleagues released, he showed up at the health center around noon Tuesday to conduct nonpartisan exit polls for a UNC-Charlotte study on the impact of Helene’s election.

According to UNCA data, Appalachian State University and Western Carolina University have on-campus early voting sites, which have been the most popular in-person voting sites among 18- to 22-year-olds in their counties in the last two presidential elections. developed by the John Locke Foundation’s VoteTracker tool.

School-age turnout at Appalachian State’s early voting site six days before Election Day was higher than at the same point in 2020, and WCU’s turnout isn’t far from where it was four years ago. However, at UNCA, college-age attendance is half of what it was at the same time in 2020.

Michael Bitzer, professor and chair of politics at Catawba College, said Gen Z and Millennial voters in North Carolina are significantly underperforming compared to other age groups in terms of early voting turnout compared to their share of the overall registered pool. voters. If younger voters join the legislature by Election Day, it could represent a “tectonic shift” in politics, he added.

North Carolina is one of the best states in the country where young people can influence the presidential race, According to Tufts Center for Information and Research on Learning and Civic Engagement. The race here is basically a draw, say pollsters. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has a 9-point lead over Republican Donald Trump among registered voters aged 18 to 29 in key battleground states including North Carolina, according to a report released this month Harvard Youth survey found.

College students generally have some of the lowest voter turnout rates, but in 2020 they went to the polls in record numbers.

This year, 81 percent of eligible UNCA students voted, and most of them voted early, according to data estimates from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement at Tufts University. The same study found that students at Western Carolina University and Appalachian State University scored higher than the national average of 66 percent.

Still, 18- to 25-year-olds made up 13 percent of all registered voters in North Carolina in 2020, but they made up about 11 percent people who cast votes. Older voters in the state had a huge impact on the outcome: People 41 and older, who make up about 62 percent of registered voters, cast 68 percent of their votes.

Gen Z and Millennials see government as a problem-solver, a distinct philosophy from other age groups, but their political participation doesn’t always reflect that, Bitzer said.

“We have to acknowledge that both generations are children of polarized politics, that they have known nothing but two parties arguing with each other,” Bitzer said. “Maybe they are simply put off by the constant negativity and tribalism of our politics.”

Surveys next elections shows that the economy, guns and climate change are the most important issues for young voters. Some students they cited the war in Gaza as a factor in deciding how and whether to vote.

Josie Steele, 22, a senior at UNCA, said social and environmental issues are the biggest drivers of her vote.

“The political climate right now is really inspiring to just get out and vote,” said Steele, who is not an unaffiliated voter. She said she voted in Asheville in 2020 and plans to do the same this year before the storm hits. After Helene pushed her home to Durham, she cast her vote there during early voting.

Nguyen and other members of the student-led group UNCA Votes have been planning since August how to get their peers to the polls. But when Helene struck, “we had no idea what was going to happen next,” Nguyen said.

The group focused on internet activism: It they sent emails to students Helene voting guide and organized a virtual meeting information session last week. Nguyen said that once students return, the group will arrange shuttles or rideshares to voting sites and go door-to-door to encourage people to vote. But he added that it was difficult to plan efforts because group members were scattered before the storm.

WCU and Appalachian didn’t evacuate like UNCA, so their campus groups did. held some personal events. Students at these schools also used social media to share voting information.

Nguyen, a registered Democrat, said he was motivated to participate in politics because, as a child, he watched his parents lose their manufacturing jobs during the recession. As a result, his family moved from San Diego to Raleigh, and he said the change made him realize how much state government affected his daily life. How does it feel to cast your first vote in the presidential election? He let out a small sigh.

“My vote definitely has more impact compared to if I had voted in previous cycles, precisely because of how tight and close and important North Carolina is to the electoral college,” said Nguyen, who voted for Harris. “But with my vote weighing so heavily, it’s a little scary how things might go in this election.”

How to vote if you are a student influenced by Helene

During the early voting period, which runs through Saturday, November 2, you can register and vote the same day. To check the opening hours of individual sites, please visit the website early voting site search.

Some displaced students may choose to vote by mail instead of in person, Bitzer said.

Although the general deadline to request an absentee ballot has passed, registered voters in Helene’s affected counties – including those home to all three universities – can go to their county election offices during business hours and complete their vote until 5 p.m. on November 4.

If registered voters in Helene-affected counties received an absentee ballot, they can deliver it to the state Board of Elections office or any county elections office or early voting site during business hours.

Voters must show photo ID to vote, but many student IDs from public and private universities are accepted, including IDs issued by UNCA, Appalachian State and WCU. A full list of accepted student and employee ID cards can be found on the website Website of the National Electoral Commission.

Answers to frequently asked questions about voting in Helene-affected areas can be found on the website ncsbe.gov/helene.

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Emily Vespa is a freelance journalist and graduate of North Carolina State University.