What would happen if the election was tomorrow (re:Sandy)

[edhopper]

Is there any precedent if a fifth of the electorate were not able to vote. A large percentage of Obama voters are in the N.E. States that will be hit tomorrow by Sandy. If the election were tomorrow and we could not get to the polls, Obama would lose by a landslide.
Is there some contingency in the law for this type of event.

[lalalu]

1. Good question.

With climate change I see this as becoming more of an issue.

[OKNancy]

2. Republicans couldn't get to the polls either

What, only Democrats would be unable to vote?

[edhopper]

4. The states that would be hit

are the ones with big Obama votes.
He would lose the popular vote by a wide margin. And the skewed results could easily change the election.

[Jersey Devil]

7. ridiculous

It rains on both parties. In NJ and most urban states the Dem votes come largely from the urban areas which are less affected by power outages and road problems.

It would be a lot harder for voters from rural areas to get to the polls so if anything, it would benefit Democrats statewide.

[treestar]

10. It would have to be bad enough to have the whole state go Republican

A state like NJ, Del or NY. That's absurd on the face of it - even if the election boards would allow people to lose their votes on such excuse - and there is no contingency plan - this type of turn out would not be due to enthusiasm issues and would affect Rs equally. And Rs are fewer in these states.

[jenw2]

8. They have the big SUVs and we have...

buses that stop running for any tiny excuse. That's why bad weather hurts us.

[OKNancy]

9. LOL - talk about stereotypes

Lots of well-off Dems in the Philadelphia suburbs for example.

Seniors vote more for Republicans. What about them? They would have trouble.

[treestar]

3. I looked for my state - there's supposed to be a disaster contingency plan

There are plans for if the country is nuclear bombed (see Cheney and Wolfowitz). Surely the election boards have thought of this.

[edhopper]

6. One would hope.

[SaveAmerica]

5. This is why I like early voting, vote as soon as I can

cause you don't know what crazy will happen on election day (freezing cold rains in '08 for example).