The Washington Post is reporting that folks in hard-hit New Jersey who reside in areas that remain without power will find military trucks and old-fashioned paper ballots awaiting them at their usual polling places today. The state is also allowing people to vote by e-mail or fax.
In nearby New York, officials erected tents to serve as polling places. An estimated 60 polling sites have been relocated and the City of New York's Board of Elections has published this list of new locations for people to check before they venture out to vote.
The Huffington Post reports that if counties disrupted by the storm see less than 25 percent voter turnout, an existing law would allow for voters to be given an extra day to cast their ballots; however, this law has never been invoked before and would be considered an unprecedented move.
Unfortunately, the physical location of polling places is only a part of the problem. Disrupted postal delivery has slowed the return of absentee ballots. Also delaying the final vote count will be the large number of provisional ballots which will be cast by voters whose polling sites were moved and they were unable to get there during normal voting hours. Provisional ballots cannot be counted until after the election.
New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are states expected to vote for President Obama, so the storm's impact won't effect the outcome of the election at the presidential level other than to depress the popular vote count for the president. But these disruptions are expected to wreak havoc on smaller state elections where razor thin margins may take weeks to determine a winner and will give lawyers a whole new list of reasons to sue for a recount.
The impact of the storm on polling places in Pennsylvania was less severe, but could be enough to affect the impact in this key battleground state. For example, the Post reported that between 250-300 polling places were still without power in Pennsylvania as of early Saturday.
Even though it might delay the outcome of some races, every American citizen has a right to have their vote count. Let us all pray that this essential right is protected for our brothers and sisters who have suffered so much in the last week!
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