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Stormy race resumes after Sandy

ASHLEY HALL: Election officials in America's north-east are scrambling to make adjustments to voting plans because of damage from Superstorm Sandy. 

It's unclear if power will still be out but plans are being made bring in generators or to move voting locations. 

With the race to the White House now in its final days, president Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney are back on the campaign trail, making their closing pitches. 

From Washington, Kim Landers reports. 

KIM LANDERS: The presidential political lull that was brought by Superstorm Sandy is over. 

BARACK OBAMA: It is good to be back in Green Bay, Wisconsin. 

KIM LANDERS: President Barack Obama has kicked off his final campaign sprint to election day on a note of post-storm unity. 

BARACK OBAMA: Because when disaster strikes we see America at its best, all the petty differences that consume us in normal times all seem to melt away.  There are no Democrats or Republicans during a storm - they are just fellow Americans. 

(Crowd cheering)

KIM LANDERS: His Republican rival Mitt Romney is also reminding voters about the storm victims in all of his campaign speeches. 

MITT ROMNEY: Please make sure if you have an extra dollar or more than that to send it along to the Red Cross or Salvation Army or some other relief effort to make sure that we show the world and show our neighbours how much we care.  We love those in need. 

KIM LANDERS: And the storm has also intruded into the presidential race in the form of a high profile endorsement. 

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has endorsed Barack Obama saying he believes he's been a leader on climate change, which may have been a contributor to the damage that his city has suffered. 

Mayor Bloomberg has written that of the two White House rivals, one quote "sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our plant, one does not." 

KIM LANDERS: For many people in America's north-east voting might be the last thing on their minds. 

New Jersey state officials say they'll deploy military trucks to serve as polling places on election day in storm-battered communities.  The officials don't know how many of the state's 3,000 polling places have electricity but they'll have a better idea tomorrow. 

Despite the storm devastation, Rick Hasen who's a professor of law and political science at the University of California at Irvine does not think there's any chance of election day being delayed. 

RICK HASEN: There is a big constitutional question as to whether we could even delay an election for president, so I don't think we are going to see that.  I think it is more likely if there are any changes, it might be extension of polling hours or something like that. 

KIM LANDERS: There's no doubt there will be significant difficulties in voting in some parts of New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Virginia. 

Doug Lewis is the executive director of The Election Centre in Houston, Texas - a non profit group consisting of thousands of election administrators throughout the country. 

DOUG LEWIS: And they're trying to decide when they think electricity will be restored to some of those areas.  If there is not going to be electricity then they clearly have to move the locations in most instances, maybe not in all depending on what they can do for some form of lighting.  They can hand voters paper ballots but you still got to be able to see the ballot in order to vote on it. 

KIM LANDERS: It's not just whether the power is off.  Transport is also an issue - how do voters and booth workers get to the polls?  What if a voter has lost their home and can't make it to their designated polling place. 

Doug Lewis says election officials across the country's north-east are working through all these logistics. 

DOUG LEWIS: All they want, doesn't matter which party they belong to, all they want is the winners to win big, cause they're on their hands and knees and saying dear God, please don't let it be close (laughs).