An election in a hurricane's shadow

2) Is Election Day at risk?

What happens if the damage is severe enough to disrupt Election Day itself — or at least dissuade a sizable number of voters from going to the polls?

One historical parallel is the two-week postponement of the New York mayoral primary that was originally scheduled for Sept. 11, 2001. But that wasn’t a national election.

The possibility of a delay has already come up in Virginia, where the AP says Gov. Bob McDonnell has pointed out he has the authority to postpone the election in extreme calamities — though that’s highly unlikely.

Short of all-out mayhem, emergencies can create shortages of poll workers or ballots, knock out phone systems or electricity, or force the relocation of polling places, according to a 2007 guide from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The guide urges election officials to “review existing State law to determine if the Governor has the power to cancel an election or designate alternative methods for distribution of ballots.”