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Hurricane Sandy threw a monkey wrench into New York and New Jersey's voting logistics by flooding polling sites, cutting power at others, and rendering some unusable. But we are humans and we have plan b's, and these are the ways New Jersey and New York responded:
New York
Governor Cuomo's Executive Order: Cuomo yesterday signed an affidavit yesterday that allowed voters in New York City along with Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties to vote at any polling station. His release reads:
Governor Cuomo is signing an Executive Order which provides for a voter who is a resident in the federally-declared disaster counties of Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester and of New York City (which includes Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond) who have been displaced by Hurricane Sandy
Pretty awesome. But there's a caveat: "Voters who cast their ballots outside their state legislative districts will only be able to vote in the presidential and U.S. Senate races," writes NY1's Courtney Gross. That means if you have a horse in a State Senate race you might want to stick with voting in your district.
Feedback: Good! New Yorkers like this. Except there's a bit of confusion.
See, he's winning fans who aren't normally his fans:
many reasons I don't like Gov. Cuomo but this is responsible leadership, unlike certain GOP governors nydn.us/QiWdfj
— Sandra N.(@SandraHelena39) November 6, 2012
But it's confusing for some people regarding what counts as displaced or affected by the storm. Here's Irin Carmon's take on how that means any resident in an affected county:
Lots of confusion, incl from poll workers, about who can vote where. Reads to me like any resident in affected counties m.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypol…
— Irin Carmon (@irincarmon) November 6, 2012
Shuttle Buses: "In New York City, authorities planned to run shuttle buses every 15 minutes Tuesday in storm-slammed areas to bring voters to the polls," reports the AP. "Elections Commissioner J.C. Polanco said the buses would service parts of Staten Island, the Rockaways and Breezy Point in Queens, and the Coney Island section of Brooklyn," the AP adds.