Sandy puts presidential election into a tailspin

See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.

By Will Bredderman

Brooklyn Daily

Gov. Cuomo signed an executive order allowing New Yorkers to cast ballots for president anywhere they like, but residents in Sandy-scarred Southern Brooklyn say they don’t know where they’re going to vote — and may opt out of exercising their Democratic right altogether.

“I have no idea what I’m going to do,” said Sheepshead Bay resident Nancy Rogers, who normally votes at Arthur W. Cunningham Junior High School on E. 17th Street between Avenue R and Avenue S — a school she said still hadn’t had electricity by Monday afternoon. “This is a rough time for an election.”

Residents in Hurricane Sandy-ravaged areas say they’re happy they can vote anywhere, but are upset that they will have to travel several miles to pull the lever for their favorite presidential candidate.

“I saw it on the news that they’re changing everybody’s polling place,” said the ardent Obama supporter William Sowell, who’s used to voting at PS 288 on W. 25th Street between Surf and Mermaid avenues but is unsure if the school will be open. “We’ve got to wait and see what happens.”

Polling location changes have been posted, but neither Rogers nor Sowell were told if they will be able to vote in their usual locations, and didn’t know where they should go if the schools were closed.

Cuomo’s executive order mandates that residents can vote for president wherever they like, and can vote for their state legislators anywhere within their district.

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