Could Hurricane Sandy Affect Election Day In Oklahoma?

Eight days away from Election Day, and Sandy is already changing the campaign. Early voting in Maryland has been canceled. President Obama and Mitt Romney have both had to change travel plans because of the storm and on Monday morning, there's concern the storm could knock out power in several states through Election Day.

If that happens, some state and local governments can declare election emergencies.

For example, in Virginia, the Governor can postpone the Election Day for two weeks - but as you can imagine, that can lead to all sorts of logistical issues for the rest of the nation.

What about Oklahoma? Is there a plan in place should a disaster strike on Election Day?

Yes and no.

There's no state law that allows Election Day to postponed or moved to another day in Oklahoma, but in the event there is a flood, fire or some other disaster, polling locations can be moved.

The other thing Oklahoma is prepared for is power outages. Our new voting machines in Oklahoma have a two-hour battery backup, and there's a procedure in place to continue voting even if the power outage is longer than two hours.