Huge portions of North Carolina have been devastated by Hurricane Helene, and rules are being changed to help storm victims vote. North Carolina officials have voted to expand ballot harvesting in 13 counties.
Chuck DeVore with the Texas Public Policy Foundation told KTRH, "That's fine for the affected counties, but I'm a little bit concerned that the relaxation of that particular rule might be applied to other counties."
DeVore says he thinks these changes, which were made by the state's bipartisan election board, were done in good faith, but that doesn't mean they couldn't be taken advantage of.
One aspect is particularly concerning. DeVore said, "You have people who are paid to go into people's homes and help them fill out their ballot. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't need any help to fill out my ballot."
DeVore says we need to learn from COVID and ensure that these special rule changes don't wind up going too far.