What might be the electoral implications of "Frankenstorm"?

[beagledave]

I know that storm prediction can be an iffy proposition, and I know that there will be more immediate concerns than voting, if the predictions come true.

That being said, any guesses about how this storm could influence voting (and thus the election)?

[cbelt3]

Only if there is a serious disaster, and the President and FEMA respond with a Kafka/Katrina-esque circus of management errors.

There will, of course, be a small group that will claim that King Canute.. uh, President Obama has failed to properly control the Weather. That group may drag their affiliated party down a small bit by exposing the Stupid.

Prediction ? Nada.

[Lemon Drop]

Bad weather has favored Republicans in the past and people unhappy with response to the storm may punish incumbents at the polls.

Hopefully it will remind people to get out and vote early where that's possible.
Good reminder of why it's ridiculous to have a nation of over 100 million voters looking at one day on the calendar for voting, although over a third already vote at a different time.

[beagledave]

Well this guy is an executive at Accuweather.

Because of the geographic extent (winds capable of causing power failures in a swath hundreds of miles in width), there could be massive power failures and, once out, the power may be out for weeks.


Again, realizing that there is a lot of uncertainty in all of this (I'm trying not to Chicken Little this) ...but extended power outages "could" have very real effects on voting, counting votes, campaign travels, campaign ads.

Do Obama and Romney want to be doing a typical media blitz of how bad the other guy is while potentially tens of millions of people are without power?

[hal]

beagledave wrote:
Well this guy is an executive at Accuweather.

and therefore has motivation to get people freaked out about the weather so they stay tuned in... no, I'm not a cynic :-)

[Bill in NC]

Our old 'voting booths' were oversized suitcases that unfolded, complete with telescoping legs.

With their punch card system you could easily check and see that a vote for 'straight Rastafarian' meant hole 3 should have been punched - it was easy enough to pull out the ballot and verify hole 3 was punched out.

You only needed a light source to vote.

The only part of the process that required power was the tabulator, which sent results back to HQ via an ordinary telephone line (easily run that off a small generator, AND it kept all the punch cards for easy recounts)

Now, post-Florida, we have the touchscreens which require power to every machine plus a customized network connection (try to not trip over the power/network cables on the floor) - forget keeping voting open in case of a power failure.

[wave rider]

Now we know where all the PAC money is going: cloud seeding!

After hearing about this storm, I am concerned about voting.

=wr=

[beagledave]

Here we go.

Hmmmm..I believe this is exactly what I was saying

-Maryland, which declared a state of emergency, said Sandy could affect early voting, which was scheduled for Saturday through Thursday.

-Holding raucous rallies while millions of Americans suffer through a natural disaster is difficult for any candidate.

-Travel plans could be disrupted as contenders hop from city to city in the last frantic days before the election. Campaigns are also unlikely to get as much news coverage when local television and radio stations are devoting time to weather coverage.

-And millions of dollars in television advertisements - already paid for - will go unseen if voters in the crucial swing states are left without power for days.

[bruceko]

I am sure if the storm hits there will be disruptions and the vote will lean more Republican than normal. Romney will win and there will be a big battle over whether or should I say weather the election should be extended for a day.

[beagledave]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/1...hp?ref=fpa

I'd be astonished if both Team Obama and Team Romney don't have whiteboards in their headquarters plastered with all the different scenarios and backup plans for this.