By Stephanie Kelly
BURNSVILLE, North Carolina (Reuters) - The polls will open on Thursday in North Carolina - a critical battleground in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election - just weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated the state's west, where some areas still lack power, running water or cell service.
Tina Veitch, a 49-year-old graphic designer, said the road to her family's house in Burnsville was destroyed by the storm. But one of the reasons she has stayed in the area, instead of seeking refuge with family in Florida, is so she can vote.
She said on Wednesday that the process to vote by absentee ballot was too arduous, adding: "The amount of hoops you have to jump through to just do it was not worth it ... So we were like, 'We're just going to stay 'til tomorrow at least and vote'."
North Carolina could be crucial, experts say, in determining a winner in the race between U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and former Republican President Donald Trump because its voting preferences could swing either way. Polls show a very tight race with a handful of swing states likely to determine the winner.
Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people across six states and caused billions of dollars in damage, has sparked questions on how it might impact voter turnout.
Some of the hardest hit counties lean both Republican and Democratic. For instance, Buncombe County - home to the city of Asheville - supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 election versus Trump, while Yancey County favored Trump.
Trump and Harris are in a dead heat in North Carolina, with Trump showing 48% support in state and national polls, versus 47.6% for Harris, according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
North Carolina's state elections board has spent weeks assessing storm damage to polling locations. On Thursday 76 early voting sites will open to voters in the 25 western North Carolina counties listed in the federal disaster declaration.
That compares to 80 planned before the storm.
Early voting has been the most popular way for North Carolinians to cast a ballot in both the 2020 and 2016 elections, according to the state.