Reporting in from bluest-of-the-blue Montclair, NJ, where about half the town (including us) remains without power. Our township council just met to discuss progress in cleaning up from Hurricane Sandy, including school openings and voting. More below the squiggle...
Here's the report from our hyperlocal news site:
http://www.baristanet.com/...
In summary, they don't yet know where our polling locations will be. One of our wards, Ward 3, is in decent shape and will probably have all its polling sites open, but the rest of them still have huge gaps in power. We were originally told that power would be back on by Monday night, the 5th, but now they're saying "no later than" 7-10 days from today, not 7-10 days from when it went out. It's clear that power will not be fully restored by election day even in towns like ours that were not flooded.
The plan is that polling sites in the other wards will be consolidated to fewer locations, but the council has not yet settled on where, how many, etc. Local news/Web sites will be reporting these locations when we get them, but it's not clear when that will happen.
I'm guessing that a lot of people will need help getting to the polls on Tuesday--more so because we are also very tight for gas these days. Lines for gas to power cars and generators have been stretching for miles; people are waiting 3+ hours in line. It's hoped that that will abate as more gas stations get supplies over the next few days, but it's crazy right now. It's also predicted that schools will be closed through the 12th (we have three days off next week anyway).
This could definitely affect national numbers, as I am assuming the situation is fairly similar in many other northern NJ towns that are strong for Obama--not to mention NYC. Are there any efforts going forward to get people to the polls who might have trouble getting there? I am going to have to try to get some work done as I can, but am willing to volunteer.