[EL] NJ's Approach to Displaced Hurricane Sandy Voters?

[Lillie Coney]

http://www.state.nj.us/governor/news/news/552012/approved/20121103d.html 

Any process that may allow voters to be identified or their 
votes known prior to being counted is a problem.  Unfortunately, 
FEMA does not have a specific focus on election continuity as 
part of their recovery program. They should have plans for 
election continuity during major events, and this may be an 
important contribution USACM can make.

New Jersey's approach creates a new category of voters--
Hurricane Sandy displaced voters and makes them equivalent
to "overseas voters".  Are the quote marks around "overseas
voters" because they are defined by law. Hurricane Sandy
displaced voters are not defined by law which is where I think
a problem rests. Another question is does the Secretary of 
State have the power from the State legislature to create a new
category of voters if so this is not going to create new issues.
Finally, does this approach create a disparate treatment issue for 
New Jersey voters who may have other emergencies that take them 
away from their voting location but are not Hurricane Sandy related? 
My concerns are the disparate treatment issue and one that if 
challenged could raise questions about the state's federal election. 

All Hurricane Sandy impacted states need a solution to allow voters
to vote--I think that solution has to apply to all state residents
regardless of their situation.  The state does not have the
resources to fight a post election constitutional challenge 
around whether the Senate can accept its electors. Elections 
are driven by law and not good intentions, and based on my 
understanding of Bush v. Gore--states have to treat voters equally 
which means they have to make whatever arrangements available 
to one group of voters available to every voter in the state. 

Is it possible to create a new class of voters--in this case Hurricane
Sandy displaced voters and they would be safe from having their 
participation in the election challenged?

Every state impacted by the storm must deal with the problem 
of displaced voters on Tuesday. They should make decisions
based on making voting available to as many voters as possible
in an equal way, which may make their decision easier to defend
if there is a legal challenge. 

I hope that the election is not close in popular or electoral votes 
because there would be no value in filing a legal challenge against
any state, but the storm impacted 63 million people.  It may be
easy to make the case that a state or several states' decisions on 
the election was unfair to other voters in the state.

Lillie
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