HOT SPRINGS, North Carolina — In one of the critical states that could decide who takes the presidency in November, election workers and voters in western North Carolina still must balance their recovery from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helen and holding elections.

There were a lot of things to adapt. Sometimes election workers must share space with first responders or hurricane relief volunteers. Voters must take detours because of storm damage and search for election information, often without reliable cell or internet service.

Some of these challenges were on full display in Buncombe and Madison counties when early voting in North Carolina began last week. Communities in Buncombe, a reliably Democratic-leaning county; and Madison, still leaning Republican, are still reeling from Helen’s destruction, including problems like power outages, destroyed roads, and lack of clean water. Overall, though, elections officials say they see positive signs about how early voting is going in mountain counties and across the state.

Here are some key takeaways from early voting preparations and voter outlooks in two western North Carolina counties.

Some of the 80 early voting sites in western North Carolina were unable to open after the storm. One of them was the community center in Hot Springs, Madison County, which was destroyed by flooding. Officials chose the Hot Springs Senior Meal Site as the city’s new early voting location, which meant poll workers who previously worked out of the community center had to adjust to the new setting.

One of the top questions voters asked the Madison County Board of Elections was about the location of polling places, said Elections Director Jacob Ray. The office’s phones have not been working in recent weeks, making it more difficult to communicate with voters.

But Ray said election work is going well so far, given the destruction in downtown Hot Springs and Marshall, two of the county’s central cities. All of the county’s election workers, about 70 of them, are still scheduled and available to work during the election, he said.

Despite Helen’s complications, voters set a statewide record for the first day of voting, with more than 350,000 ballots cast, according to the Carolina State Board of Elections. North. Nearly a week later, more than 1.3 million early ballots, both in-person and by mail, had been cast.

In Hot Springs, a town of about 500 people, early voting station manager Dean Benfield said it was a “great day,” with more than 50 voters casting ballots.

“Normally the first day, and I’ll just tell you this, we might end up with four voters, or five for the whole day,” she said. “But it was a good turnout.”

Many Buncombe County voters have described this year’s presidential election as one of the most critical of their lives. To vote, some voters had to overcome damaged roads, prolonged power outages and other disruptions.

Susan and Stephen Miller drove to the Black Mountain Library to vote on the first day of early voting, despite ongoing complications they faced at home. Their home still had no power or water as of last week, and black mold had grown from the flooding.

But Susan Miller said she wasn’t surprised to see a line of voters out the library door, given that Black Mountain is an “active” community.

“I am very happy to see so many people. I was happy to wait, and I would have waited twice as long to be able to do it,” Stephen Miller said after the couple voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.