Frankenstorm may affect elections

There’s a storm brewing. Several, actually.

With Sandy and a handful of other storms converging over different parts of the United States in the next few days, it’s possible that there will be power outages and heavy rains across the country right before and even on election day on November 6th. It’s a long shot; the majority of the fiercest weather is expected to have passed by then. Still, it’s worth noting particularly when swing states such as Ohio are expected to be impacted by the storms as can be seen in the map above from the Star Journal.

In fact a 2007 study at The Journal of Politics concluded, “…we find that, when compared to normal conditions, rain significantly reduces voter participation by a rate of just less than 1% per inch, while an inch of snowfall decreases turnout by almost .5%. Poor weather is also shows to benefit the Republican party’s vote share. Indeed, the weather may have contributed to two Electoral College outcomes, the 1960 and 2000 presidential elections.”

Here’s some information about the actual storms: