Officials scramble to prep for elections

>>> welcome back. hurricane sandy affected early voting in several states. officials in maryland are trying to make up for lost time , possibly adding an extra day of early voting . the governor of virginia wants to extend hours for casting absentee ballots only. the virginia governor says he's confident precincts will be ready for election day .

>> we don't believe there will be any problem with any voting location, any precinct of the 2800 or so precincts. none of them we anticipate will have any problem being fully operational next tuesday.

>> which will be no easy managing editor of politi-geek.com. so this is go down as a thing we talk about in history, the storm, and, of course, the questions regarding the impacts it could have on the election. the first thing a lot of people are asking if we could see a delay next week.

>> theoretically, yes. theoretically now congress does have the power to basically set an election day any they want. the chances it will happen are as naum cali low.

>> some of the things that could happen, already fema, fred fugate has informed states the federal government would reimburse them from relocating polling places.

>> you wonder what the political implications are here. theoretically you would think president obama can only win here because that small sliver of the electorate they're going after, theoretically these low propensity voters may decide to come out because they see this as presidential and a rally around the flag effect. i think the chance of something happening significant he here are diminished.

>> what do you make of the extraordinary circumstances we are in? a lot of people have tweeted, for example, about power being out. what does that mean for malfunctioning machines? all that speculation rolls into play.

>> i think it's more than the fact we're having a conversation. the fact the election is away means that they have time to correct anything that goes wrong. you have seen wildcards. these situations in 1980s you wondered during the iran hostage crisis , you wondered if it would affect carter's re-election.

>> congress has to change the date but it has to act quickly but it does not look like it's in our future. thankfully so.

>> theoretically, this is astronomically low. the states have the power to award nir electoral votes in any way they choose. they can decide instead of awarding it through people going to the polls, they could have the the legislators chosen and the power of people to choose it. this is astronomically low.

>> thank you very much. some comforting news. i don't think we need any more drama at this point. thank you. greatly appreciate you coming by.

>> no problem.