l. Meanwhile, in New York City, the board of elections has decided to relocate 60 polling sites.
Both states are still struggling to recover after the storm last week
devastated some communities in the tri-state area. More than 122,000 New
York, New Jersey and Connecticut residents have sought out federal
assistance in the wake of the storm.
Last week, New Jersey Lt.
Gov. Kim Guadagno issued directivesthat eased some restrictions on
absentee voting and voting by mail, but the directives she issued early
this morning go even further.
Any New Jersey voter displaced
from their primary residence because of the storm will be considered an
"overseas voter" and can apply for an absentee ballot by email or fax as
late as 5 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 6. If the voter's county clerk
approves their application, the voter will receive a "waiver of secrecy"
and a ballot either by email or fax, which they must return by email or
fax no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Federal law allows
overseas voters to cast ballots via email as a last resort. New Jersey
officials are "trying to use a system that has been put in place as a
failsafe in a different context," explained University of California,
Irvine professor Richard Hasen, an election law expert and the author of
"The Voting Wars." Hasen said he's not aware of any other state that
has allowed voters who are not overseas to cast email ballots. According
to computer science experts, he said there's a "legitimate concern"
that email ballots could be hacked or lost.
"There's all kinds
of problems with it," Hasen said. "The question is, do you use a
fallible system system like email voting or you disenfranchise [these
displaced voters]. Given that choice, it seems like this is the right
thing to do."
Rather than cast an email ballot, a displaced New
Jersey voter can also cast a provisional ballot at any New Jersey
polling place, Guadagno said today, though the ballot must be counted in
the board of elections in the voter's county of registration.
Guadagno also said that any mail-in ballots received by Nov. 19, as long
as they are postmarked by Nov. 5, will be accepted. She also ordered
county clerks to prepare for a large number of requests for provisional
and emergency ballots.
New Jersey, a solidly blue state, has
never had a voter turnout rate below 70 percent in a presidential
election year, but turnout could be lower because of the storm, the New
Jersey Star-Ledger reports. About two months after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks, the state saw fewer than 50 percent of voters turn
out for a gubernatorial election -- a new low in the state's modern
history.
In New York City, the board of elections early this
morning listed the 60 polling places that will be relocated because of
Sandy. Twenty-eight of them are in Queens and 24 are in Brooklyn. Three
polling sites in Manhattan and three in the Bronx will be relocated, as
will two on Staten Island.
In New York, if less than 25 percent
of registered voters turn out on Election Day, state law allows for an
extra day of voting.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-34222_162-57544864/n.j-n.y-make-more-voting-changes-due-to-sandy/
