Sandy survivors show just how much Americans love democracy

Regardless of your views on the election outcome, take a minute to read this account of people in New York and New Jersey who, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, voted by flashlight in garages or makeshift tents with subfreezing temperatures.

Voting in the Rockaways, in Queens, N.Y./AP photo

Voters in New York and New Jersey were allowed to cast ballots at any polling place they could find, even if it was a school building where nine precincts were combined into one, or a poll set up haphazardly in a car dealership.

Voting by flashlight on the Jersey Shore/AP photo

Lines were long and many voters expressed relief and even elation at being able to vote at all, considering the devastation. Many of these people have had no power for eight days and, due to the pummeling delivered by Superstorm Sandy, some face the prospect of never going back to their battered homes. But they were at the polls.

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In the future, when someone says they can’t make it to the polls or that the weather will keep them home on Election Day, remind them of the people of the Rockaways in Queens or Point Pleasant on the Jersey shore.

Here’s a portion of the Associated Press report:
Sarah Brewster of Long Beach, N.Y., was shaken when she entered a school to vote and noticed the clocks were all stopped at 7:27. That's the time on Oct. 29 when everyone in her community lost power. Tears streamed down her face as she emerged from the school cafeteria.
Brewster, who works at a nonprofit, said voting is "part of our civic responsibility in the midst of all this crisis."
Retired customer service agent Joan Andrews, who fled her trailer in Moonachie by boat a week ago, said, "I always have to vote, especially now." Many friends of the 68-year-old woman were too overwhelmed to vote, but Andrews said she'd encouraged them to take the time.

"Oh my God, I have been so anxious about being able to vote," said Annette DeBona of Point Pleasant Beach. "It's such a relief to be able to do it. This is the happiest vote I ever cast in my life."
The 73-year-old restaurant worker was so worried about not being able to vote that she called the police several days in advance, as well as her church, to make absolutely sure she knew where to go and when.
… The efforts put a premium on creativity. At a public school in Staten Island's Midland Beach, flares were set up at an entrance to provide light, and voting machines were retrieved from inside the school and moved into tents where voters braved 29-degree temperatures as they lined up.