East Hampton Elections Going Forward As Planned

Hurricane Sandy cut power to thousands here earlier in the week, but local registrars say the extension of the voting registration deadline and the power situation at the town's only polling place mean there will be no problems for local polling.

Besides, said Democratic Registrar Bunny Simko, the election has to take place if for no other reason than to end the relentless barrage of election ads.

"Our's is going forward no matter what. We would need an election just to vote the campaign commericals off the air."

On Wednesday Simko and Republican Registrar Alannah Coshow were busy in their office in Town Hall entering recently registered voters. Coshow said she was much less concerned with Sandy's impact, potential or otherwise, on the election than the state's new voter registration software, which for a time wasn't letting her enter the new voters.

The town has just one polling place, East Hampton High School, which didn't lose power in Sandy and is ready to go.

Coshow said that while thousands here lost power in the hurricane, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's decision to extend the voter registration deadline to today, Nov. 1, seems to have helped. She said several people have stopped into the registrar's office in the last few days to register.

Statewide, Hurricane Sandy left at least 100 of the state's 738 polling places without electricity, but Secretary of State Denise Merrill expects ample progress by the time polls open on Election Day.

"I am confident we will have our polling places where they need to be," she said at a press conference at the Capitol at noon on Wednesday.

Merrill said there is no legal way to postpone the election. She's been in talks with Connecticut Light & Power and said that polling places -- most of which are in municipal buildings such as schools and town halls -- are a priority for the utility companies.

There are 100 polling places in the coverage area of United Illuminating in the New Haven and Bridgeport area, but she said she hasn't received an update from the company.

"We have reached out to them," she said. "We just haven't heard back from them."

Nearly 500,000 customers from the two utility companies are without electricity as of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Connecticut was faced with a similar situation in 2011 when a Halloween snowstorm knocked out electricity throughout the state before municipal elections. Merrill said she doesn't think that storm made much of an impact on the elections.

"We had the same dismally low turnout," she said.

Voting

State law forbids an absentee ballot being cast late simply because a voter is stuck at home, Merrill said. Ballots will be available from city and town halls on  Election Day.

This past weekend Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy's disrputive power, extended the voter registration deadline statewide to Nov. 1.