I took a lot of crap for my theoretical support of plans to postpone elections, but Slate’s article today on election day “nightmare scenarios” just bolsters my thinking :

Nightmare Scenario No. 5: Terrorist Attack That Disrupts Voting

This is the true nightmare scenario. In a forthcoming article in the Election Law Journal, John Fortier and Norman Ornstein consider the myriad ways terrorists could disrupt our elections. Consider just one of them?an attack in a major city in a battleground state, making it physically impossible for voters to get to the polls in part of the city, although voting can take place in the rest of the state and country.

Should the election be postponed, as New York’s primary was postponed on Sept. 11, 2001? Most of the battleground states do not have a statute in place to deal with an Election Day delay, and Congress has done nothing to put any rules in place to deal with such a catastrophe either, assuming (a big assumption) that Congress has the power to do so.

If the election should be postponed even in the absence of a statute, as was done in New York City, how broad should that postponement be? Such a question inevitably would end up in the courts.

Lemme reiterate what I said before : I don’t trust the Bush Administration or the Republican-controlled Congress at all on this issue. I’m convinced that any plans to postpose elections that come from those guys would only serve the purpose of helping the GOP increase their stranglehold on power.

Nevertheless, I’m completely unconvinced by highminded arguments like “We just don’t cancel elections in America.” Well, bully for you guys, but there are some real practical concerns in which postponing elections could be our best options for ensuring that we choose our leaders in the most senate way possible.

For example, let’s say that within the first couple hours after the polls open on Nov. 2nd, pipe bombs are discovered and/or detonated in 20-30 polling places that are exclusively in African-American districts in swing states. Amid the confusion, the government could safely assume that other black districts might also be targeted. What’s the best decision to make here? Close the polling places in order to keep the voters out of harms way? Move the polling places at the last minute knowing that a large percentage of potential voters won’t participate due to fear, inconvenience, or inability to find the new location? Or reschedule the election in those districts for a couple weeks while authorities work to secure new polling places and ensure the voters are able to safely cast their ballots?

Regardless of which course of action is the best to take, there’s nothing in the law right now that dictates how to respond to this sort of situation. Considering something as simple as a bomb threat could disenfranchise voters and possibly swing the election, wouldn’t it be a good idea to at least have a backup plan?