We have only two days until Election Day, and much of the northeast U.S. is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Sandy. We know that many people in New Jersey (and other states) are still without power. While power is being restored, there are still many disruptions (including barriers to traveling to a polling place) that will likely affect voting turnout on Tuesday.
Some states have reported that they are moving some of their polling place locations, which will be helpful, but there will be voters who won't find it easy to travel to their (correct) polling place. The simple act of election administration has become very complicated this year because of Sandy.
Moreover, the presidential race has remained incredibly close overall, and is still very close in some of the important battleground states such as Florida and Ohio. If one candidate is more effective in getting out the vote in a state, that could easily determine who wins the election. We also might see several recounts in those states where the vote totals are close.
It is difficult to predict exactly what effect Sandy will have on the election, but it's clear that there will be an impact. Political scientists often note that voter turnout can rise or fall depending on the relative convenience of voting, including bad weather conditions on Election Day. I wonder if even marginal voters will make an extra effort to vote on Tuesday because Sandy has made it more difficult.
John Klemanski
Some states have reported that they are moving some of their polling place locations, which will be helpful, but there will be voters who won't find it easy to travel to their (correct) polling place. The simple act of election administration has become very complicated this year because of Sandy.
Moreover, the presidential race has remained incredibly close overall, and is still very close in some of the important battleground states such as Florida and Ohio. If one candidate is more effective in getting out the vote in a state, that could easily determine who wins the election. We also might see several recounts in those states where the vote totals are close.
It is difficult to predict exactly what effect Sandy will have on the election, but it's clear that there will be an impact. Political scientists often note that voter turnout can rise or fall depending on the relative convenience of voting, including bad weather conditions on Election Day. I wonder if even marginal voters will make an extra effort to vote on Tuesday because Sandy has made it more difficult.
John Klemanski
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