Biden orders 500 more active-duty troops to NC mountains; Sen. Tillis says state leaders to address voting problems

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R) of North Carolina said Sunday that state General Assembly leaders planned to address possible voting issues in the wake of deaths and massive destruction from Hurricane Helene in the North Carolina mountains.

Along with more than 110 deaths in North Carolina, the mountains are still dealing with more than 600 closed roads this weekend along with large areas that lack fresh water, power and cell service.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Sunday afternoon ordered another 500 active-duty troops to the North Carolina mountains at Gov. Roy Cooper’s request, the White House said.

That would put 1,500 soldiers in the western part of the state along with more than 6,100 National Guardsmen. So far, 500 troops are from Fort Liberty with another 500 from Fort Campbell along with more than 6,100 National Guardsmen, the Pentagon said.

Senator Tillis appeared Sunday on the CBS program Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan and spoke about the storm response and possible problems with voting in the upcoming Nov. 5 general election.

“I’ve spoken with (Senate) Leader (Phil) Berger and (House) speaker Tim Moore and others in the legislature. They’re coming back this week,” Tillis said about the Republican General Assembly leaders.

Tillis said the issue is to provide a ballot access and voting access in “difficult situations” such as those in the mountains.

“They’ll be passing legislative matters this week to address it and I think that North Carolina will be prepared to make sure that everybody who wants to vote will have access to the ballot and vote before election day or on election day,” Tillis said.

Meanwhile, Tillis said on Face the Nation that while the U.S. federal government is spending “billions of dollars” on “failed” immigration and border policies, he did not agree with Former President Donald Trump who said emergency funding was being spent on illegal immigrants.

“We can have a discussion about the failure of this administration’s border policies and the billions of dollars it’s costing, but right now, not yet, is it affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina,” Tillis said.

Later in the CBS appearance, Tillis said he would encourage Congress to convene to pass additional disaster aid funding. He cited Tropical Storm Milton which is forecast to hit much of Florida as a “major hurricane” this week.

“We already know that we need additional resources. Let’s make sure that there’s never attention drawn to whether or not they can move accounts around to respond to all these floods,” Tillis said. “So I’m in the camp of let’s go provide some certainty and then we can come back and do more after the election.”

So far North Carolinians have received more than $27 million in individual assistance approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said MaryAnn Tierney, a regional administrator for the agency. More than 83,000 people have registered for individual assistance, according to Gov. Cooper’s office.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report

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