After the recent Storm Sandy finished running its course and devastating many parts of the country, power was out all over the place and an election was right around the corner with a possible re-election in the air. It’s fair to say this storm could have come at a worse time both for the people and the presidential candidates.
In terms of power, according to an article in the New York Times by Michael Cooper, “more than 8.2 million households were without power by midday Tuesday following the storm.” The devastation from the trees was horrific. Roads were impassable in many states so even if one was capable of getting to the poles they probably were not able to. A majority of the states that were hit hard in hurricane Sandy were swing states so fear of Sandy having an effect on electoral votes was very high.
The devastation was so high that they were calling this New York’s Katrina. The damage from the trees to the power lines was unlike anything seen before, and companies like Con Edison and other power companies were working around the clock to get the power back into towns and homes. I’m not sure if this went unnoticed but personally I found it interesting that aside from most major roads, these tree removal and power companies were working on getting the power back before opening roads.
According to an Emergency message sent out by Governor Chris Christie, state directive will allow displaced voters to cast their ballots by e-mail or fax. This being said, digital revolution once again has changed the outcome of this election. In the 2008 election President Barack Obama took advantage of online resources and social media to get him and head and come out on top. Today in the 2012 election the internet and all of our forms of social media has found away to help those distressed to get their vote out there. Without this form of digital help a tens of thousands of people would not have been able to vote, and with this being the closest presidential election in history which came down to within a million votes, who knows what could have happened.