Boards of Elections Rush to Repair Polling Sites By Tuesday

Will polling locations in New York have electricity by Election Day on Tuesday?

With the possibility of disenfranchising voters high, darkened or flooded polling locations could also put into play a law that could allow for a second voting day, according to the Albany Times Union.

State election law says that a county board or the state Board of Elections can order a second vote in a given area if fewer than 25 percent of the registered voters show up due to "a fire, earthquake, tornado, explosion, power failure, act of sabotage, enemy attack or other disaster.

Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin told the paper that that second vote could be called within 20 days. Presidential voting and other federal elections, however, is still at the hands of Congress.

Conklin does not believe it will come to that, though, as local boards of elections are scrambling to get polling places up and running again.

"If they have sites where there is no damage, the power is on, the public can get in and out safely and they can get the machines in the door, there would be no consideration of closing those polling sites," Conklin told the Times Union.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, was confident that everything would go as planned: "Election Day will be this Tuesday, and we are working with local election officials to ensure that voting happens in every corner of the state without delay and without interruption.”