Prepare yourself for the most contentious presidential election in history.

[Kablooie]

I know this is just idle speculation but it's likely that the effects of the storm won't be all resolved within one week.
It's possible that many electronic voting precincts won't have power and will resort to makeshift methods.
This could give the GOP new opportunities to dispute the results and knowing how they operate I'd expect this to be likely. They are probably plotting how to take advantage of the storm right now.

This could make the hanging chads of 2000 seems like child's play.
I wonder what the odds are that we'll have to rely on our good buddies at the Supreme Court to decide this election for us again?
I'll bet Rove and his minions are salivating at the possibility.

Just a thought.
Please reply, tell me I'm full of unsavory waste products, and make it go away.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Chinese curse; May you live in interesting times. Aint that the truth.

[jmknapp]

2. It'll be interesting

...to see how various precincts cope, but as far as contention, it's solid blue states that are most affected.

Not too many power outages in Ohio--yet, anyway. Line crews can come in from the midwest, south and elsewhere to help restore power to the northeast.

Really nice that early voting has spread out the voting process so everything doesn't depend on the one day. I.e., say, hypothetically, that power outages were widespread in my county (Franklin) in central Ohio right now. As long as power was maintained at the early voting location (emergency power or otherwise), people could go there all this week and next weekend to get their voting done.

[reusrename]

3. This will be the first election challenged for electronic vote flipping.

I am pretty damn sure of that.

They don't seem to be backing off, even though everyone is aware of the hack now.

[quaker bill]

4. They may have to move some polling locations

but there will be lots of places powered up within a week. The interstate pact already has large numbers of workers and equipment staged close but out of harm's way. Once the winds drop below 25 to 30 mph, restoration work will get started. It is always organized so that critical infrastructure comes first (hospitals and such), then repairs are worked in order of the number of people served. Big repair jobs that serve very few people generally come last. Polling locations are often located in schools and they will come early on the list. There are portable generators that will be used in a pinch. The longest outage I have dealt with personally after a hurricane was 10 days after Charlie, in 2004. However, the hospital a few blocks away was back on-line in 24 hours, before their emergency generators ran short of fuel. It could go longer for some folks after this storm because the area is so much more densely populated, there will perhaps be a lot more pieces to put back together, but we will see.