Experts: Team Obama Should Root for Hurricane Sandy to Interrupt Election

US News ^ | Oct 25, 2012 | Jason Koebler

[11th_VA]

It's been called "snowicane" and "worse than the perfect storm," and it could knock out power in the mid-Atlantic through Election Day.

Hurricane Sandy hasn't even made it past the Bahamas yet, but Sandy, or any natural disaster around Election Day, could wreak extreme havoc on the election, experts say.

[PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy Threatens Caribbean]

Political scientists have long studied the effects of rain and inclement weather on voter turnout and, not surprisingly, have found many people would rather stay at home than brave the weather. But more extreme storms or natural disasters that affect an entire state or region could turn a mild inconvenience into a huge mess.

That's because there are few federal election procedure laws, Robert Pastor, co-director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management says. Election process is generally left up to state or local governments, who Pastor says are "least capable of handling a statewide or regional disaster."

Most states have contingency plans in case a state of emergency is declared on Election Day. In Virginia, which could be hit hard by Sandy, Governor Bob McDonnell can postpone the election for up to 14 days, leading to all sorts of logistical issues...

[Condor51]

The CommieRats can root for 'Sandy' all they want. But according something called 'experts', it won't be a factor, it'll be out in the Atlantic.

This is pretty darn accurate, history wise. This past summer I was tracking a Storm in the Atlantic that was moving into the Gulf as a Hurricane and our youngest daughter was on vacation in the Dominican Republic ₍₁₎ at Puna Canta. And this service kept showing the storm would miss it, while the MSM was predicting disaster. Natch, the MSM was wrong.

So if Barry tries anything like declaring a 'National State of Emergency' and delaying the election, even for a week, the sh*t WILL hit the fan. Even sane democrats (the few remaining anyway) will see right through that as a desperate Power Grab by a wannabe Dictator For Life. And the hundreds of the current threats to riot by 'Holder's People' if Romney wins, will be nothing in comparison what WILL HAPPEN if Barry or his 'surrogates' try something.

(1) she wanted to see a rain forest (I told her; 'It's a Freaking JUNGLE, not a forest'), but she didn't want to go into the Amazon :-).

[ScottinVA]

Why are the Dems pushing so hard for their people to vote early? What’s the advantage? Is it easier to do fraud if voting early, because there is not as much scrutiny as on election day?

My question is what are the safeguards to prevent early voters from voting again on Election Day?

[dirtboy]

You posted the 3-day map. Here is the 5-day:

I really wish people would stop making uninformed predictions about this storm. All signs are pointing to it being a long, nasty and historic bad weather event.

[JimRed]

But, wait a minute now...a snowstorm this early in the year in the northeast is impossible due to all that global warming...er...climate change!

[JimRed]

Why are the Dems pushing so hard for their people to vote early? Mr. Broken Record here with the stock answer; it give them an idea of how many votes they have to manufacture or steal to win, and more prep time to try it.

[JimRed]

No doubt it could have something to do with fraudulent intent.

Think hundreds of thousands of college/university students voting in the campus district and by mail-in or absentee at home.

[JimRed]

Oh, and the snowbirds, voting absentee in NY, NJ, MA, CN, etc. and in person in Florida, AZ, etc.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

Other than Virginia, the states in the bullseye are all blue states.

[JoyjoyfromNJ]

“Losing power in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast hurts Obama much more than Romney”

Being from NJ, I can agree with your statement that any power outage would hurt Obama more—because here in NJ, almost all voting will be electronic without paper ballot backups. There are already documented cases of fraud in local elections & primaries as a result. So I can see the D’s demanding that the election be postponed until those machines come back on line.

Secondly, NJ’s power utilities have a historically lousy record responding to large area power outages, whether urban,suburban or rural. We had people without power for 10 days after Irene last year. So if an “ordinary” storm like Irene can affect power like that, this one has the potential to be much worse and have ripple effects on the voting.

[zeugma]

Exactly, If it hit next week in the mid-Atlantic (NJ,Delaware, PA) as a Category 1 hurricane or a strong tropical storm it can knock electricity out for millions of people for over a week or two weeks, like hurricane Irene did to New England last year.

Here in Texas, we'er still outside manning the BBQ in a cat 1 storm. Hell, we regularly have storms with winds that high during springtime here in dallas.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

Hey Tex! You got to remember these are Dem.Union people. They are used to being spoon fed by the Government. They don’t BBQ when the temperature is over 70 degrees more or less a Cat 1 Storm.

[castlegreyskull]

“Here in Texas, we’er still outside manning the BBQ in a cat 1 storm. Hell, we regularly have storms with winds that high during springtime here in dallas. “

There is a big difference between Texas and ct. I don’t mean geography. You actually have competant and frankly sane people running the place.

[darth]

Yes, early voting makes fraud easier.

This has been observed in my state.

1. Dims use precinct chairs to walk the precinct and find out which voters have moved, died, or will otherwise not show up.

2. During early voting a dim activist goes to the polls manned by other activists. Activist votes in the name of the person they know will not show up. The workers know the guy is impersonating someone else and allow him to vote.

Early voting means a handful of bold activists can vote hundreds of times.

Solution: Volunteer as a Clerk, Alternate Judge, or Poll Watcher.

[Cyber Liberty]

I may be incorrect about this but I think the constitution specifies the first Tuesday after the first Monday as the day. To try and change that is a direct violation.

[Terry Mross]

I’m hoping Romney will win so big that Virginia won’t effect the count.

[daniel1212]

And http://www.myfoxhurricane.com/stormtracker/ Click on > on left for movement, and see Weather and Severe and Hurricane for options.

[JoyjoyfromNJ]

It’s Nov 2 and they’re still predicting it will take 10 to 14 days to restore power in Northern NJ & NYC, heavy democratic depositories. So continue to expect interference with the election.

[dirtboy]

Got an email from one of my client’s employees, she doesn’t expect power back at her house until November 9th (Northern NJ). She had to go to a relative’s house out of state and work remotely.

[dirtboy]

If anyone has a lingering impact from Sandy in PA, IMO it will be Romney - there are only 5,000 outages left in Philly and all transit is back up. Still hundreds of thousands without power statewise, and the last to get restored (and it will take until after next Tuesday to get them all restored) will be the most remote. In other words, folks from the redder parts of the state, with the possible exception of the Poconos, which has become Baja NYC full of commuters. But I don’t think the impact will be significant, but if the race is close, it could be critical.