Having lived through some natural disasters in rural areas (blizzards in Indiana, ice storms in Michigan, floods and snowstorms in PA, Issac in LA), I expect the cities to be back up to speed long before the rural regions.
I expect this storm will have the biggest effect on the vote in Virginia and maybe even West Virginia, particularly as the rural western areas of Virginia and the coal mining areas of West Virginia may still be pretty torn up. One to two feet of snow and 80 mph winds will bring down a lot of trees and power lines in some really rough terrain.
Most of the Northeastern states are urban dominated even in good weather so nothing should shift there. If the power is on for the polling places people will be able to walk to vote in the cities even if the transit is still out of order. They may be less likely to have access to their polling places in rural areas due to blocked and washed out roads and greater distances to the polling place. It will get interesting if many polling places don't have power restored by next Tuesday.
Just thinking like a geographer here as well as a long time rural resident.
I expect this storm will have the biggest effect on the vote in Virginia and maybe even West Virginia, particularly as the rural western areas of Virginia and the coal mining areas of West Virginia may still be pretty torn up. One to two feet of snow and 80 mph winds will bring down a lot of trees and power lines in some really rough terrain.
Most of the Northeastern states are urban dominated even in good weather so nothing should shift there. If the power is on for the polling places people will be able to walk to vote in the cities even if the transit is still out of order. They may be less likely to have access to their polling places in rural areas due to blocked and washed out roads and greater distances to the polling place. It will get interesting if many polling places don't have power restored by next Tuesday.
Just thinking like a geographer here as well as a long time rural resident.
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