Name: After political spat, these New Orleans polling stations will get generators by Election Day | Hurricane Center | nola.com
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After political spat, these New Orleans polling stations will get generators by Election Day | Hurricane Center | nola.com

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Sunday began with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and City Councilmember Helena Moreno accusing the Louisiana official in charge of overseeing Tuesday’s presidential election of potentially failing to provide backup power to 11 of the city’s polling sites that were still without electricity because of Hurricane Zeta last week.It ended with Cantrell's administration issuing a follow-up statement saying officials would likely need backup power for only three polling sites on Election Day, and "plans to provide and operate the equipment" had been finalized.Cantrell started a political tit-for-tat late Sunday morning with Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin by saying he was risking “disenfranchising Orleans voters and (threatening) to suppress the vote” if he didn't supply generator power to nearly a dozen polling sites who could still be without power two days later.Ardoin responded by assuring that any polling sites without power on Election Day would receive generator equipment to operate. He also accused Cantrell and Moreno of "trying to score cheap political points instead of being part of any solution."Ultimately, as night fell on a busy day of power restoration in the parish, Cantrell's office said they only expected three polling locations&nbsp;— serving eight precincts&nbsp;— to be without power on Tuesday. Those are Mt. Kingdom Missionary Baptist Church, 3756 Louisa St.; Blessed Seelos Parish Hall, 3024 Burgundy St.; and St. David Catholic Church Parish Hall, 5617 St. Claude Ave.&nbsp;Cantrell said the offices of Ardoin, Gov. John Bel Edwards, as well as Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness would provide portable generators and lighting to two of the sites. Entergy New Orleans would provide an additional generator to support the third site "due to its size," Cantrell's office said.&nbsp;Cantrell and Moreno stand in opposite corners politically from Ardoin. The mayor is a Democrat who supports her party’s presidential challenger, Joe Biden. Moreno served as state co-chair of Democratic U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' presidential campaign before Harris agreed to be Biden's vice presidential running mate.&nbsp;Meanwhile, Ardoin is a Republican. He drew questions about his neutrality last year for speaking in favor of President Donald Trump at a public rally where Trump stumped for Eddie Rispone, who days later lost a governor's race Ardoin oversaw. Ardoin also faced political fire when the state's online voter registration portal went offline Sept. 22 on National Voter Registration Day, which he claimed happened because required maintenance for the site was unintentionally scheduled on that day.Zeta packed 110 mph when it made landfall late Wednesday afternoon and quickly barreled through New Orleans, leaving it just 1 mph short of attaining status as a Category 3 storm and a major hurricane.The storm caused widespread power outages, and Entergy had not completely restored electricity to the area by Sunday.As of 6 p.m. Sunday, Entergy reported about 18,400 customers without power, down from about 25,900 at the start of the day. That’s about 10% of the post-storm peak of 178,000 customers without power in the parish.In Jefferson Parish, there were 51,220 customers without power Sunday evening, down only about 750 from where it began the day. That’s still 28% of the post storm peak of 180,270.Statewide, there were still 94,887 Entergy customers without power Sunday evening, the majority of them as a result of Zeta.The outages forced Jefferson Parish and New Orleans public schools to cancel classes Monday, and the Archdiocese of New Orleans said its schools would handle possible closures on a campus-by-campus basis. St. Tammany Parish public schools planned to hold classes Monday as scheduled.Before their conflict's resolution Sunday night, Cantrell said Ardoin and his commissioner of elections, Sherri Wharton Hadskey, had taken “the unprecedented position” that city government employees, resources and expenses must be used to transport, install and maintain any necessary backup power generators at polling sites.Cantrell said Ardoin’s office’s stance was “absolutely unacceptable,” and she said it was unfathomable the secretary of state would add such a financial burden to a city that was directly hit by a hurricane four days earlier, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its accompanying economic downturn.“The city cannot and should not take on this liability,” Cantrell said. “The secretary of state is responsible for effectively managing this election, and every election.”Moreno issued a statement saying Ardoin was showing a "callous disregard for his basic duties" and pledged that local officials would continue to “confront and counteract voter suppression.”Ardoin quickly responded by saying that his office had been assessing and restoring "all election infrastructure" since Zeta came through southeastern Louisiana. In fact, Ardoin's statement said, the 11 polling sites in New Orleans without power on Sunday morning were down from 17 reported Saturday.He accused Cantrell and Moreno of spreading "misinformation" and so far sitting out efforts to solve issues at polling sites. He added: "All polling locations without power restoration will receive generators to operate Election Day equipment."New Orleans is a Democratic stronghold in a state that voted in favor of Trump during the 2016 presidential election, despite electing Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards to a pair of four-year terms in 2015 and 2019. The city has 124 polling locations, and Ardoin said his office does not expect needing to change any of them for Election Day, despite the storm.Email Chad Calder at .

Sunday began with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and City Councilmember Helena Moreno accusing the Louisiana official in charge of overseeing Tuesday’s presidential election of potentially failing to provide backup power to 11 of the city’s polling sites that were still without electricity because of Hurricane Zeta last week.It ended with Cantrell's administration issuing a follow-up statement saying officials would likely need backup power for only three polling sites on Election Day, and "plans to provide and operate the equipment" had been finalized.Cantrell started a political...

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Weekend editor, The Guardian US. | ramon.vargas@guardian.co.uk. Previously: Times-Picayune (2008-13); New Orleans Advocate (2013-19); T-P | TNOA (2019-22).

After political spat, these New Orleans polling stations will get generators by Election Day | Hurricane Center | nola.com

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