I go to college in upstate New York, but am registered to vote back home in Connecticut, so my mother went to the post office to send me my absentee ballot last Monday. The postal workers told her there was no way I would get it on time due to the effects of the hurricane. The alternative would have been for me to drive home, but there was no way to do that because there is a gas shortage and there’s still major damage on the roads.

 

I’m very disappointed that the hurricane robbed me of my vote, because this would have been my first time voting, and I’m a huge Romney supporter.

My husband, Brenton, is a lineman, meaning he repairs electrical power lines. Right now, he is working more than 16 hours a day to repair damage from hurricane Sandy in New Jersey [Editors’ Note: He is so busy he did not have time to talk to us]. Sadly, he won’t be able to vote!

 

Here in Missouri, we have the option to vote via absentee ballot, so he requested one two weeks prior to the due date. He was supposed to be home in time to fill out the ballot and send it in, but because of this emergency situation, he wasn’t able to get it. The local election officials suggested that I express-mail the ballot to him where he was working, and then have him express-mail it back to them. However, overnight express mail is very expensive, and because he is working such long hours and moving around a lot, it would be very difficult for him to get it and send it back. We are frustrated with our election officials’ unwillingness to work with us during this crisis.

I live in lower Manhattan, but my building was damaged by the hurricane, so I evacuated to the neighbouring state of New Jersey, where I work, to live with friends. I’m not able to vote in New Jersey, since I’m registered in New York. On Monday, it still looked like I had to vote in the lower east side of Manhattan, which was impossible to get to by train because of the hurricane damage down there. And I couldn’t drive there due to a gas shortage. I was thinking of taking all day off to walk there – this would have taken me hours – but I had already missed too many days of work due to the hurricane. I was really concerned – many of my neighbours were in the same situation as I was.

 

I kept on calling the New York City board of elections, but they weren’t answering their phone line – I guess they were receiving a lot of calls from panicked people. However, the executive order made at the last minute now allows me to vote anywhere in the state of New York, so I will be able to get cast my ballot today after all [Editor's Note: Trains are running normally in parts of New York spared by the hurricane].