The devastated state will be deploying military trucks and personnel to serve as voting polls in place of the buildings destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.
Department of Justice trucks will be parked at polling places in New Jersey that have lost power, as long as the sites are still accessible. In place of electronic votes, paper ballots will be issued to voters. Republican Secretary of State and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno stated:
“Voters will find a DOD truck with a well-situated National Guardsman and a big sign saying, “Vote Here.”
It’s still unclear how many of the state’s three thousand polling places are without power, alternate sites will be identified in cases where polling sites are gone.
The state also extended the deadlines for mail-in ballot applications to close of business Friday. Election officials have stated that they could even be handed in as late as Election day, by the close of the polls.
The secretary of state is urging as many people as possible in storm-damaged areas to vote by mail-in ballot, seeing as there are some sites that have no polling places or access to create an alternative poll. Gaudagno said:
“There’s no reason not to vote, there’s no reason not to vote today, there’s certainly no reason not to vote on Tuesday, five days from today.”
Gov. Chris Christie said that in areas without electricity, voting would again be “old school.”
“You walk up, get a paper ballot, fill it out and hand it back in.”
With the addition of paper ballots to be counted it appears that this election will be the most intense since the Bush-Gore recount in 2000.
Nation
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