AccuWeather.com Election Coverage: Sandy May Pose Threat to East Coast Voters

By Jillian Macmath, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

October 26,2012; 10:34AM,EDT

With election day less than two weeks off and Sandy looming in the Atlantic, those on the East Coast may want to choose their voting day carefully.
Many states use the early voting process to substitute for attendance at the polls, which allows for more Americans to vote despite obligations on the official day.
But with Hurricane Sandy wreaking havoc across the Atlantic, early voting may seem less inviting for some voters.
Sandy's track still remains in the air, at this point, but it is likely to head northward into New England.
"There are a couple of different scenarios," AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
"Sandy should be to the east of Florida as we head into the end of the week," he said.
The east coast of Florida may seen tropical storm force wind gusts from West Palm Beach to the Miami area, with showers and thunderstorms Thursday night into Friday.
Sandy will likely push up the East Coast late Sunday and into Monday.
"The worst case scenario is that if this storm does go up into New England... we could could see lots of power outages, we could see flooding. That could have an impact even a week later depending on how bad the storm is," Rayno said.
A second storm track is expected to push across the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic states come election day. A front may stall in Florida bringing some rain Nov. 6.
With polls not showing either candidate to have a strong lead, it remains possible that the absence of voters on election day in some states, due to weather or other factors, could impact the election.
One state, or even one county, could determine the whole election, Myers said.
Continue to check back through election day as AccuWeather.com will provide daily election coverage through Nov. 6.