500,000 customers still without power in Pa. - how will it affect the election????
As of Thurs afternoon, 510,000 customers were still without power in Pa. Many traffic signals are still out. Many schools are closed because they don't have power.
It is very hard to believe that all of the polling places will have power by Tuesday morning, or that there will be time to inform voters if their polling places are moved. It is even hard to reach poll workers to tell them their voting place is being moved, because many are older persons who haven't provided cell numbers, and they are staying in hotels or with relatives while their power is out.
Corbett said he is "watching" the problem. His office noted that voting machines can operate by batteries for 6 hours. The polls are open for 13 hours.
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http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/elections/index.ssf/2012/11/election_officials_scramble_to.html#incart_river
In Northampton County, PA, the County elections office still has no power and was closed for several days. Fortunately, the National Guard brought in a generator so they could then work with floodlights.
"As of Wednesday night, 100 of 151 polling places in Northampton County lacked power ... efforts to contact local poll officials have been hit or miss, she said."
"In Lehigh County, Tim Benyo, the chief clerk of voter registration and elections, said he is compiling a list of polling places without electricity to ask the state for help expediting restoration or generators.
He estimated 60 percent of polling places were without power Thursday. He said he's hopeful no stations will have to be moved, and the county has some generators to power stations that are down, he said."
Note - Lehigh and Northampton Counties together include 550,000 people and trend Democratic in Presidential elections. Similar situations are in place in many other southeastern PA. counties that also trend Democratic.
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