选举佐治亚州和北卡罗来纳州的官员周一表示，尽管工作人员仍在继续搜寻受害者，但他们所在州在11月总统选举中的投票不会因飓风海伦留下的破坏而中断。
虽然这两个州的部分地区被飓风摧毁，但选举官员表示，他们正在制定计划，以确保11月5日选举的每一张选票都得到统计。
“每个人都在想选举会发生什么，”佐治亚州国务卿布拉德·拉芬斯佩格在周一的新闻发布会上说。“好消息:缺席投票将于本周如期进行，提前投票将于下周二，即10月15日开始。”
Raffensperger说，虽然Helene在他的州造成了大范围的破坏和停电，但他预计大选不会受到任何重大干扰。他说，该州159个县的选举办公室和投票设备没有受到严重破坏。
佐治亚州国务卿办公室选举主任布莱克·埃文斯说，县官员正在评估大约2400个投票点。他补充说，到目前为止，由于风暴的破坏，只有三个需要改变。
在北卡罗来纳州，该州选举委员会周一一致通过了一项措施，该措施将扩大受灾最严重的县的地方选举官员的权力。
这项获得批准的措施将允许受灾最严重的北卡罗来纳州13个县的选举官员在10月17日开始的提前投票之前，对投票地点进行更改，获得紧急物资，并部署团队，在灾害避难所协助缺席投票。
“我们致力于确保17日在所有100个县，包括这些受影响的县，开放提前投票。在这些受影响的县，情况可能会有所不同，但我们完全打算从17日开始提前投票，”北卡罗来纳州选举委员会执行主任卡伦·布林森·贝尔说。
根据贝尔的说法，截至周一，北卡罗来纳州的每个县选举办公室都开放了，而上周有14个办公室因风暴而关闭。贝尔感谢全州的地方选举官员努力让他们的办公室在线，同时面临“个人斗争”，包括房屋受损，交通问题和缺乏基本的公用事业。
“一个星期的变化真大...这真是一个壮举，”贝尔说。“我们的斗争还没有结束，这就是为什么我们需要董事会采取行动，为进行这些选举提供必要的灵活性，并尽我们所能为选民提供最好的服务。”
她星期一告诉记者，当局可以把国民警卫队的帐篷或联邦应急管理局的拖车作为投票地点，她坚持认为这是安全可靠的。
她说:“它不像普通投票站那么宽敞，但是如果投票站的停车场仍然可以使用的话，它确实为现有的投票站提供了必要的空间。”。“[而且]即使在一个临时建筑中，我们仍然可以维护投票设备的安全和我们工作人员的安全。”
在北卡罗来纳州的Yancey县，选举委员会主任Mary Beth Tipton告诉ABC新闻，官员们仍在评估该县11个投票站中有多少可以在选举日之前运作。大多数其他投票站位于学校和消防站，这些地方目前被用作避难所和紧急救援点，两个选举站被洪水严重破坏。
“有些甚至已经不存在了，”蒂普顿说。
受灾最严重的县之一是Buncombe县，它遭受了历史性的洪水。该县包括阿什维尔，该州第十一大城市。
官员们说，截至周一，67，000名公用事业客户仍然没有电，由于供水系统及其水处理厂受到严重破坏，Buncombe县的大部分地区没有自来水。官员们说，救援人员继续在大量废墟中搜寻60名下落不明的人。
“我在这里向我们的社区保证，邦科姆县将投票，”邦科姆县选举服务主任科琳·邓肯(Corinne Duncan)在周一的新闻发布会上说。
邓肯说，她担心由于缺水缺电，一些投票站将不得不改变。她说，大多数选举办公室和投票设备没有受到风暴的影响，但官员们正在努力“制定战略和修改计划”，以确保任何想投票的人都可以这样做。
她说，官员们正试图联系投票站工作人员进行培训，以确保投票站有工作人员。邓肯说，从现在起，Buncombe县将按计划开始提前投票，居民仍然可以在10月11日之前登记投票。
“我们正在评估有哪些投票地点，”邓肯说，并补充说，“我们必须尊重我们的情况的严重性。”
Officials in North Carolina, Georgia say Helene will not derail voting in presidential election
Election officials in Georgia and North Carolina said Monday that voting from their states in the presidential election in November will not be derailed by the damage left by Hurricane Helene even as crews continue to search for victims.
Though parts of the two states were devastated by the hurricane, election officials said they are working on plans to assure that every ballot cast for the Nov. 5 election will be counted.
“What has been on everyone’s mind is what will happen to elections,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference Monday. “Good news: Absentee ballots are going out this week as scheduled, and early voting will start next Tuesday, on Oct. 15."
Raffensperger said that while Helene caused widespread damage and power outages in his state, he does not expect there to be any major disruptions to the general election. He said election offices and voting equipment in the state's 159 counties escaped serious damage.
Blake Evans, elections director for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, said county officials are assessing about 2,400 polling locations. So far, just three will have to be changed because of storm damage, he added.
In North Carolina, the state's Board of Elections unanimously approved on Monday a measure that would broaden the authority of local election officials in the counties most impacted by the disaster.
The approved measure will allow election officials in 13 of the hardest-hit North Carolina counties to make changes to voting sites, access emergency supplies and deploy teams to assist with absentee voting at disaster shelters ahead of early voting commencing on Oct. 17.
“We are committed to ensuring that we open early voting on the 17th in all 100 counties, including these affected counties. It may look a little different in these affected counties, but we fully intend to offer early voting starting on the 17th," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections.
As of Monday, every county election office in North Carolina was opened, according to Bell, compared to last week when 14 of those offices were closed due to the storm. Bell thanked local election officials throughout the state for working to get their offices online while facing “personal struggles” including damage to their homes, transportation issues and a lack of basic utilities.
“What a difference a week makes ... this is just quite the feat,” Bell said. "Our struggles are not over, and that is why we need the Board to take action to give the flexibility necessary to carry out these elections, and to be of the best service to the voters that we can be."
She told reporters Monday that authorities could bring in National Guard tents or FEMA trailers to act as polling locations, and she insisted that it can be done securely and safely.
"It’s not as spacious as your normal polling location, but it does provide the space necessary at the existing voting site if the parking lot [of a polling site is] still accessible," she said. "[And] even in a temporary structure we can still maintain security of the voting equipment and safety of our workers.”
In Yancey County, North Carolina, Board of Elections Director Mary Beth Tipton told ABC News that officials are still assessing how many of the county’s 11 polling sites would be operational by Election Day. Most of the other polling sites are in schools and fire stations, which are currently being used as shelters and emergency relief sites, and two election stations were severely damaged by flood waters.
“There are some of them that don’t even exist anymore,” Tipton said.
One of the hardest-hit counties was Buncombe County, which sustained historic flooding. The county includes Asheville, the eleventh-largest city in the state.
As of Monday, 67,000 utility customers remained without electricity and a large part of Buncombe County was without running water due to major damage to the water system and its water treatment plant, officials said. Recovery crews continued to search massive piles of debris for 60 people who remain unaccounted for, officials said.
"I'm here to reassure our community that Buncombe County will vote," Corinne Duncan, the director of Buncombe County Election Services, said at a news conference Monday.
Duncan said she was concerned that some polling places would have to be changed due to the lack of water or power. She said most of the election offices and voting equipment were spared by the storm, but officials are working to "strategize and modify plans" to make sure anyone who wants to vote can do so.
She said officials are trying to get in touch with polling workers for training to make sure polling stations are staffed. As of now, early voting will begin as planned in Buncombe County and residents still have until Oct. 11 to register to vote, Duncan said.
"We are assessing what voting locations are available," said Duncan, adding, "We must respect the gravity of our situation."
