Asheville, North Carolina is a place devastated by the recent hurricane and flood. A place where people lost everything they had. What's the campaign like there? Is there any space for it at all?
This year's campaign in Asheville looks completely different. On the one hand, it focuses on rebuilding the electoral infrastructure so that residents of the affected areas can vote at all, on the other hand, it focuses on aid.
Karolina and I meet on the outskirts of Asheville, North Carolina. First, we will visit the tourist part of the city, recently renovated and prepared for guests. Today everything is destroyed. There has been no drinking water there for weeks. There is still no electricity in many places. The children only returned to school on Monday.
– People say that we will come out of this unscathed, that it will be repaired, that it will be rebuilt, but there are so many tragedies. People lost their belongings, lost their jobs, says Karolina Hopkins. Karolina has lived in this area for eight years. Her house was not damaged.
She is a social worker, which means that she has been working in recent weeks collecting and distributing aid.
Door-to-door method
How did the recent disaster affect the elections? – For example, I was supposed to vote by correspondence. My ballot card was damaged in the hurricane and got wet. I also had to go and vote again – replies Karolina Hopkins when asked how this natural disaster will affect the elections in her city.
North Carolina is one of the seven key swing states that Donald Trump primarily needs to win, i.e. to collect 270 electoral votes. Because he has already won there twice, which Kamala Harris' team is trying to reverse this time. Madison Sings is the head of Harris' campaign volunteers who go door-to-door and talk to voters. Staff members know perfectly well who voted, where and how. Therefore, the list of addresses is carefully prepared. This past week, they've been knocking mainly on Democrats. – That's where the turnout comes from. We want to knock on the doors of registered Democrats who haven't voted in recent years and talk about voting because this is a really important election, says Madison Sings, Kamala Harris's chief of staff in Asheville.
In hurricane-ravaged areas, Joey tells us, they don't campaign. There they offer help and provide information about polling stations.
– We ask if they need anything, if they feel safe and comfortable, also mentally, to talk about the elections. If so, we provide them with such an information package, says Joey Malone, a volunteer on Kamala Harris's staff in Asheville.
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– I don't know how many people will be able to vote. On the other hand, as soon as the polling stations opened, there were two-hour lines, says Karolina Hopkins.
In one of these places we met Lucy and her family. They came to vote. As they say: for a better future for their children. – Honestly, I'm very worried and nervous, but at the same time I'm hopeful that Harris will win – says Ms Lucy.
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