Clayton: We already knew that the law would disenfranchise voters anyway, due to the slowness of the Postal Service at this point, thanks to Donald Trump and his takeover of the Postal Service in that regard during his first term. There is currently a huge impact on this. We also saw the state, North Carolina’s Republican Court of Appeals, delay vote-by-mail ballots to remove RFK Jr.’s name. off the ballot, and the Republican Supreme Court which also supported and supported the Court of Appeals. There are many zip codes that have the postal service, or post offices, there that are not able to actually accept or receive mail anymore. And so there will be a problem in making sure that we also reach such people. Like I said, we’re still in an assessment phase. I will certainly leave that to the State Board of Elections and to our provincial governments. We’re here and we can help figure that out, but we’re still in a phase of trying to figure out what this looks like in practice and how direct this is. Again, people can go to readync.gov if you need help or if you want to see resources in the state right now for hurricane relief. So far, we’ll be keeping an eye on what voter protection efforts look like across the state.

Sargent: So let’s go back and wrap up what people are experiencing in western North Carolina right now. Where are you from in the state? Do you have friends, relatives, loved ones that you communicate with? What do you hear there?

Clayton: Right now people are just trying to make sure everything is okay. I’m really lucky. My aunt lives in Madison County in Mars Hill and that was hit pretty hard, but she is doing well. I’ve heard from our people in Morganton and we’ve also heard from many of our provincial party chairs. Some of their houses appear to have been flooded, but we are lucky that they are doing well. Some of our provincial party headquarters will also open as places for people to come and get supplies, especially when the roads reopen. Make no mistake, we are in this for the long haul, and the North Carolina Democratic Party will be committed, especially in the counties that have been hit and hit hardest. We’re going to do everything we can to help over the next month, two months, two years, because we know it’s going to take a long time to rebuild the communities. However, that’s what western North Carolina is doing. That’s what Appalachia does. They are resilient. They are good people and they deserve all the attention and time we can give them.