It’s chilly on the Capitol steps today, but that’s no problem for Mitt Romney.

David Goldman / AP, file

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on election night in Boston. He is spending inauguration day in La Jolla, Calif., according to an aide.

The former Republican presidential contender is spending Inauguration Day at his home in La Jolla, Calif., where it’s sunny with a forecasted high of 73 degrees.

An aide told NBC News that the former Massachusetts governor and his wife have "no big plans."

Asked if the governor was likely to watch the inaugural ceremonies today, the aide said, "Doubtful."

It’s not surprising that Romney is keeping himself far from the fanfare and tri-color bunting; he’s kept a low profile since losing the election in November.

Romney’s son Tagg told The Boston Globe in December that his father was never really all that into winning the nation’s highest office anyway.

“He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life,” Tagg told the newspaper. “He is a very private person who loves his family deeply and wants to be with them, but he has deep faith in God and he loves his country, but he doesn’t love the attention.”

RELATED: Obama takes ceremonial oath, challenges Americans to live up to founding principles

Slideshow:

Festivities for President Barack Obama's second inauguration.

Launch slideshow

A man wearing what appears to be a Mitt Romney mask robbed a Virginia bank yesterday -- the same bank hit by a robber in a Hillary Clinton mask two years ago.

But that's not the only reason the FBI is calling the holdup unusual.

The robbery at a Wells Fargo in Sterling was not the standard grab-and-go. The gun-wielding robber, wearing the mask and a Florida State sweatshirt, got money from one teller, but apparently that wasn't enough. He went teller to teller until he took from all five.

Police went to the Party City behind the bank to see if anyone bought a mask there Thursday.

STERLING, Va. -- Someone wearing what appears to be a Mitt Romney mask robbed a northern Virginia bank Thursday, but that's not the only reason the FBI is calling the holdup unusual.

The robbery at a Wells Fargo in Sterling was not a grab-and-go robbery. The suspect, who was wearing the mask and a Florida State sweatshirt and holding what appeared to be a gun, went from teller to teller until he took money from all five who were working.

More news from NBCWashington.com

It wasn't the first time the bank was robbed by a person disguised as a politician. In December 2010, someone in a Hillary Clinton mask robbed the location.

Police went to the Party City store behind the bank on Thursday to see if anyone had  bought a similar mask there.

Updated 7:48pm ET In the storm-ravaged states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, officials have moved some Election Day voting locations, although many remain unchanged.

As of noon Monday, Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill said that utility companies in her state have reported that electricity has been restored to all but two of 773 voting precincts in the state.

Her Web site posted the two voting place changes:

· Bridgeport’s Longfellow School polling place has been relocated to Aquaculture School, 60 St. Stephens Road, Bridgeport.

· New London’s Ocean Beach polling place has been relocated to Harbor School, 432 Montauk, Ave, New London.

Recommended: Romney, Obama hit must-win states in 'barnburner' campaign day

In New Jersey, storm-displaced voters who are temporarily staying in a part of the state where they are not registered, are permitted to go to any polling place in New Jersey on Election Day and vote by using a provisional ballot. The ballot will be forwarded to the county of the voter’s residence.

Tim Aubry / Reuters

Utility trucks and first responders navigate flood waters on the main stretch of road in Peahala Park, N.J., in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, in this photograph taken on October 30, 2012 and released on Oct. 31.

Displaced New Jersey voters also have until 5 p.m. ET on Election Day to fax or e-mail a request for a mail ballot to their county clerk.

More information is available at the New Jersey Division of Elections website, on voting by fax or e-mail.  The voter must transmit the ballot to the county board of elections no later than 8 p.m. ET on Election Day.

Some counties in New Jersey have posted changes in voting locations or have alerted voters about the status of voting locations in their area.

Here are a few:

· Union County: County officials have posted an announcement that “almost all polling places are expected to be open on Election Day, Tuesday November 6. An updated list will be available later today.”

·   Ocean County: The county has posted a list of changes in voting locations here.

·  Atlantic County: The elections board has posted a list of changes in voting locations here.

·  Monmouth County: The county has posted a list of locations here.

The county also says: “Provisions have been made for residents in two of the most severely storm-ravaged boroughs to vote in neighboring communities. Sea Bright residents will vote at the Fair Haven Fire House on 645 River Road in Fair Haven. Loch Arbour residents will be voting at the Allenhurst Fire House on 311 Hume Street in Allenhurst. All other residents will vote in their own community.”

Recommended: Romney adds Election Day stops in Ohio, Pennsylvania

In New York, as of Monday morning, some counties were still in the process of finding new voting locations but had not yet posted them on their Web sites.

Suburban Nassau County, which was hit especially hard by last week’s storm surge and flooding, has posted a list of the voting locations that have been moved or consolidated, here.

In addition, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order on Monday that will allow displaced voters from one of the federally-declared disaster counties, such as Nassau, who may temporarily be in a county other than where they live to vote by affidavit ballot.

The affidavit ballot will be sent to the board of elections where the voter is registered. According to Cuomo’s press office, these votes by affidavit ballot will count for the office of president and United States senator “and for any other candidate and ballot initiative that appears on the official ballot where the voter is registered.”

Listed below are links to the polling place search tools that each state offers, but be aware that in some cases changes in polling locations might not be reflected in the voter lookup tool databases.

· Search tool for New Jersey voters here.

· Search tool for New York state voters here.

· Search tool for New York City voters here.

· Search tool for Connecticut voters here.

For voters who want to use early voting or an absentee ballot, here’s some information:

· In New York, a voter needs a specific reason to vote by absentee ballot, such as being out of the state on Election Day, having a disability, or being in prison due to having been convicted of a non-felony offense. The State Board of Elections has announced that the deadline for applying in person for an absentee ballot is Monday. Absentee ballots must be postmarked no later than Monday, Nov. 5. Those mailed ballots have until Nov. 19 to arrive at the local Board of Elections.

· In New Jersey, any voter can vote by mail. A voter may apply in person to the County Clerk until 3:00 p.m. ET Monday. Vote by mail ballot must be received by the County Board of Elections no later than 8 p.m. ET on Election Day.

· In Connecticut, voting by absentee ballot is limited  to the sick and disabled, those in active service in the armed forces, and those absent from their town for all of Election Day. The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Monday and the deadline for returning the absentee ballot is 8 p.m. ET on Election Day.

Updated 11:27 a.m. - President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney returned Monday evening to the states that launched their respective bids for the presidency, wrapping their campaigning ahead of Election Day. 

Joined by their spouses, Obama returned to Iowa -- where he won the 2008 caucuses -- and Romney stopped in New Hampshire -- where he won the primary at the beginning of this year -- to bring to an end their long, hard battle over whom Americans would select as their president for the next four years. 

"I've come back to Iowa one more time to ask for your vote," a visibly emotional Obama told a crowd near his first campaign office in Des Moines. "Because this is where our movement for change began. Right here."

"It's out of my hands now," he said. "It's up to you."

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images

Mitt Romney holds a rally at Orlando Sanford international airport in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 5, 2012.

Both Obama and Romney seemed to drink in the adulation of their supporters in the closing hours of the campaign, before voters would take to the polls in fewer than 12 hours to render their verdict on the election.

"This is a special moment for Ann and for me, because this is where our campaign began," Romney said to a crowd in New Hampshire. "Your primary vote put me on the path to win the Republican nomination, and tomorrow your votes and your work here in New Hampshire will help me become the next president of the United States."

The stops mostly concluded the campaigning of the 2012 election. Romney was set to make stops Tuesday in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and Republican vice presidential nominee would also stop in Cleveland and Richmond. Those stops, though, were billed as less formal than the giant, raucous rallies that have dominated the candidates' schedules in the closing days of the campaign.

Obama and Romney capped what was a "barnburner" final day of campaigning, as he and Romney hop-scotched across the country to make stops in the states on which they're relying tomorrow.

Ryan launches campaign 'barnburner' in Obama-leaning Nevada

Romney made a four-state tour through Florida, Virginia and Ohio – states that are critical to his hopes of becoming president – before concluding in New Hampshire, the cornerstone of Romney’s victory in the GOP presidential primary earlier this year, and the state neighboring Massachusetts, where Romney served as governor and his campaign is now headquartered.

The president spent the day visiting Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio -- the states composing his Midwestern "firewall," where he's sought to build an advantage over Romney.

Their schedules, coming on the heels of a jam-packed weekend of campaigning across the country by both the candidates and their surrogates, was nothing short of a “barnburner,” as Ryan put it at first rally of the day, in Nevada.

“We're doing a barnburner today,” Ryan said in the state, which is seen as leaning toward Obama in NBC News’ battleground map. “We are crisscrossing the country – Mitt and I are because we are asking you to work with us, to stand with us to get our country back on the right track.”

Both Obama and Romney stuck to well-worn scripts that they had used throughout the frenetic final days of the campaign. The candidates at times seemed to acknowledge that much of the campaign’s outcome might be out of their hands, pleading with supporters to sway a winnowing number of swing voters over to their cause.

“Your voices are being heard all over the nation loud and clear, thank you,” Romney said in Virginia. “I also want to thank many of you in this crowd that have been out there working on the campaign – making calls from the victory centers, and by putting up a yard sign, in your neighbor’s yard and maybe convincing a coworker to vote for Paul Ryan and me.”

Obama kicked off his first rally of the day with rocker Bruce Springsteen, who would hitch a ride with the president to Columbus for an afternoon rally, which was also to feature rapper Jay-Z.

"I get to fly around with him on the last day I'll ever campaign, so that's not a bad way to end things," he said of Springsteen, who will accompany Obama to Columbus, Ohio, on Air Force One.

Both Obama and Romney’s schedules, though, sent a powerful signal about their fundamental strategy for Election Day.

The states Romney is visiting, for instance, are virtually essential for his hopes come Tuesday. Failing to win Florida, for instance, would force Romney to have to win every single other remaining battleground state.

Obama’s stops, meanwhile, suggested attentiveness to his so-called “firewall,” which Republicans have argued is cracking amid surging Republican enthusiasm in battleground states.

Slideshow: Election 2012

Reuters, Getty Images

Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.

Launch slideshow

Vice President Joe Biden, during a stop at a cafe in Sterling, Va., predicted the bloc would hold.

“I think we’ll win Ohio, I think we’ll win Wisconsin, I think we’ll win Iowa. I think we’ll win Nevada, I think we’ll win new Hampshire,” he told reporters. He added that Florida would be “close,” but said he thought “have a real shot of winning” the Sunshine State.

As they made their final arguments to sprawling crowds throughout the day, both Romney and Obama got an assist from additional superstars who entertained audiences before rallies had begun.

Larry Downing / Reuters

Supporters hold a sign as President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at Fifth Third Arena at the University of Cincinnati, Nov. 4, 2012.

Obama was traveling with Springsteen and Jay-Z on Monday, but Katy Perry and John Mellencamp had played before other Obama audiences over the weekend. Romney’s rally on Monday in Ohio was also slated to feature the Marshall Tucker Band.

Both Springsteen and Jay Z each did special songs for the Obama campaign, in Jay Z's case, changing an epithet in one of his songs to reference Romney instead.

"If you're having world problems, I feel bad for you son," he said, "I got 99 problems, but Mitt ain't one."

Jason Reed / Reuters

President Barack Obama campaigns at McArthur High School in Hollywood, Fla. on Nov. 4, 2012.

With just two days until Election Day, President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are running neck and neck nationally, according to the final national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll before the election.

Obama gets support from 48 percent of likely voters, while Romney gets 47 percent.

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

In the NBC/WSJ poll released two weeks ago, the two candidates were deadlocked at 47 percent each.

“This poll is reflecting a very, very close campaign nationally,” says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart.

“It’s a dead heat,” Hart adds. “This election is going to be decided by turnout, turnout, turnout.”

While both Obama and Romney are running virtually even in this national poll, a majority of surveys from the battleground states – especially in the crucial battlegrounds of Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin – show the president with a slight advantage.

Good news for Obama: Two-thirds approve of hurricane handling
The NBC/WSJ poll – conducted Nov. 1-3 – contains good news for both Obama and Romney in the final days of the campaign.

For Obama, 41 percent of likely voters say that what they have read, heard, and seen over the past couple of weeks have given them a  more favorable impression of president, compared to 40 percent who said it had given them a less favorable impression – which is up from his 38-to-43 percent score on this question two weeks ago.

Read our memo on our 'likely voter' methodology (.pdf)

Part of that more favorable impression is due to his handling of Hurricane Sandy, of which 67 percent of likely voters approve.

By comparison, 45 percent of voters say they have say they have a less favorable impression of Romney from what they have read, heard and seen over the past couple of weeks, versus 40 percent who have a more favorable view.

Yet two weeks ago – fresh off his debate performances – Romney’s score here was tied, 44 percent more favorable, and 44 percent less favorable.

Comparing 2012 to 2004
In addition, Obama’s numbers in this poll look almost identical to George W. Bush’s in the final NBC/WSJ before the 2004 presidential election, which Bush ended up winning 51 percent to 48 percent.

Obama’s approval rating among likely voters stands at 49 percent – exactly matching Bush’s 49 percent approval in the final 2004 NBC/WSJ poll.

Forty-two percent say the country is headed in the right direction, versus 41 percent who said the same thing in late Oct. 2004.

And the head-to-head score between Obama and Romney – 48 percent to 47 percent – is identical to what it was in the final NBC/WSJ poll before the 2004 election: Bush 48 percent, Democrat John Kerry 47 percent.

“The comparisons between 2004 and 2012 are haunting,” McInturff says.

Good news for Romney: Comfort level, the economy
The good news for Romney in this national poll is that 53 percent of likely voters are comfortable with the idea of him as president, which ties Obama’s percentage on this question (although 39 percent are “very comfortable” with Obama versus 26 percent who are “very comfortable” with Romney).

Also, Romney is ahead of Obama among independents, 47 percent to 40 percent.

And the former Massachusetts governor leads Obama by five points on which candidate is better prepared to create jobs and grow the economy, 47 percent to 42 percent.

However, a majority of voters in the survey – 52 percent – say the economy is recovering.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Nov. 1-3 of 1,475 likely voters (including 443 cell phone-only respondents), and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 2.55 percentage points.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

President Obama spoke Sunday morning at a campaign event in Concord, N.H.

Updated 1:30 a.m. ET With the hours quickly running out before voters render their verdict, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigned Sunday night in Pennsylvania, an eleventh-hour foray into a state that no GOP nominee has won since 1988.

Speaking to a chilled crowd in in Bucks County, a county which President Barack Obama carried in 2008 with 54 percent of the vote, Romney said, “We’re only two days away from a fresh start. Two days away from the first day of a new beginning.”

As he has for several stops in the last two days, Romney alluded at his Bucks County event to Obama’s comment on Friday that “voting’s the best revenge,” by saying, “In his closing argument, this is last week, President Obama asked his supporters to vote for revenge. For revenge. Instead, I ask the American people to vote for love of country."

He added, “He’s hoping we’ll settle. Americans don’t settle. We build, we aspire, we dream, we listen to that voice which says ‘we can do better’!”

Romney suggested to the crowd that they “reach across the street to that neighbor with the other guy’s yard sign. And we’ll reach across the aisle in Washington to people of good faith in the other party.”

In a sign of hope for Romney, Obama’s once-wide lead in the state appears to be slipping.

A new Allentown Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll Sunday showed Obama only 3 percentage points ahead of Romney, 49 percent to 46 percent. Another recent Pennsylvania survey, the Franklin & Marshall College poll, had Romney trailing Obama by only 4 percentage points among likely voters.

A Romney victory in the Keystone state, which has 20 electoral votes, would be one of the campaign’s biggest surprises.

Asked by a reporter Sunday whether it was a little too late for Romney to invest time campaigning in Pennsylvania, Romney senior advisor Kevin Madden said, "No, because this is one of those states that came into view right after the first debate. And as a result it just presented a great opportunity…. And here you are with an incumbent president under 50 (percent in polling). We're essentially tied. We're over-performing in many of these critical areas of the state, like the Philadelphia suburbs, areas like Scranton, southwest Pennsylvania. So we see it as a great opportunity and traveling there today we think can help make a difference. And this is actually the perfect time given that you're 48 hours from people making a decision, given that that they don't have early voting there.”

In addition to his Pennsylvania stop, Romney campaigned in Virginia, Florida, Des Moines, Iowa and Cleveland, Ohio.

After campaigning with former president Bill Clinton in New Hampshire Sunday morning, Obama touched down in Florida Sunday afternoon, then headed to Ohio for an evening rally, then to Colorado for a late appearance.

Romney reached out Sunday for the votes of independents who may be disenchanted with Obama, telling a crowd in Cleveland, “He promised to do so very much, but frankly he fell so very short.  He promised to be a post-partisan president, but he’s been most partisan, he’s been divisive, blaming, attacking, dividing.  And by the way, it’s not only Republicans that he refused to listen too, he also refused to listen to independent voices.”

Later in his speech Romney added another pitch to independents in Ohio: “Now so many of you look at the big debates in this country, and you don’t look at them as a Republican or as a Democrat, but first as an American….  You hoped that President Obama would live up to his promise to bring people together to solve big problems, but he hasn’t.  And I will.” 

Two hours earlier, only eight miles away from the Romney event, Vice President Joe Biden campaigned in Lakewood, Ohio, accusing Romney and his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin of playing "a con game" in the waning days of the campaign. "They're running away from what they believe." 

He appealed to Democrats to get out the vote in the state that decided the 2004 election and whose 18 electoral votes might well decide the election: “We need you Ohio. We need you. We win Ohio, we win this election.”

In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Saturday, Romney was trailing Obama in Ohio 51 percent to 45 percent among likely voters, including those who were undecided yet leaning toward a candidate and those who voted early. The survey found that 3 percent were undecided.

Ryan was also campaigning Sunday in Ohio with a stop in Mansfield. As his first event Sunday Ryan, dressed in a Green Bay Packers jacket, arrived at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc., to attend a tailgate party. Green Bay has ranked among the nation’s top presidential campaign TV ad media markets in recent weeks.

Meanwhile Obama opened his day by rallying Democrats in the small but vital battleground of New Hampshire which has only four electoral votes of the 270 needed to win the presidency. George W. Bush carried the state in 2000 but Democrat John Kerry won it in 2004 and Obama won it in 2008.

“Just as we did when Bill Clinton was president, we gotta ask the wealthiest to pay a little bit more so we can reduce the deficit and still invest in the things we need to grow,” Obama told a crowd in Concord, N.H.

The president told the crowd that on Saturday night he had consulted with his campaign advisers.

“I looked at David Plouffe, some of you know he’s my big campaign poo-bah smart guy. But Plouffe and I looked at each other and we said, ‘You know what. We’re no longer relevant. We’re props. Because what’s happened is that now the campaign falls on these 25-year old kids who are out there knocking on doors, making phone calls, and then we realized, you know, pretty soon after they do their jobs then they’re not relevant either because it’s now up to you.”

Romney will hold his final rally of the campaign Monday night in Manchester, N.H., underscoring again the significance of its four electoral votes.

In his first event Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa, Romney reminded his supporters how vital Iowa is to his campaign strategy: “I need Iowa – I need Iowa so we can win the White House and take back America, keep it strong, make sure we always remain the hope of the earth. I’m counting on you. Will you get the job done?”

A Des Moines Register Iowa poll released Sunday showed Romney trailing Obama 47 percent to 42 percent.

NBC News’s Carrie Dann, Garrett Haake and Ali Weinberg contributed to this story 

Surrogates for President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney projected outward confidence on Sunday in each candidate's ability to win on Election Day.

As the final NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll showed a close race nationally between the two candidates, their top supporters squabbled over who held the upper hand in critical battleground states.

"I'm very confident that, two days out from Election Day, the president's going to be re-elected on Tuesday night," said David Plouffe, a White House adviser who managed the president's 2008 campaign, on "Meet the Press."

There are seven states, worth 89 electoral votes, considered true "toss-up" states on NBC News' battleground map: Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire. Other competitive states include Nevada, which has leaned slightly for Obama in recent polls, and North Carolina, which has tended toward Romney in many recent polls.

"All these states right now, we think the president's in a good position to win," Plouffe said.

Both Obama and Romney spent Saturday barnstorming these battleground states in hope of shoring up their base and shaking loose prized undecided voters in the final hours of the campaign. But their professed confidence belied a much more competitive battle for the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency, especially as an uncertain finale loomed over the 2012 campaign.

The Romney campaign said its Sunday schedule — which took the former Massachusetts governor to Pennsylvania and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to Minnesota — both states which Republicans have only contested as of late — was a sign of surging national momentum. But Democrats castigated those trips as a sign of desperation, as Romney scrambled for new pathways to 270.

One of the most hotly contested battleground states includes Virginia, which Obama has put into play in 2008 and again in 2012. It also has one of the earliest poll closing times in the nation on Tuesday, and could offer political observers an early indicator of the trend lines in the election.

"We're going to win this state, and I think we're going to win it a lot bigger than people are predicting," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican who represents a Richmond-area district.

He added: "I see here on the ground, there is a lot of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan."

But political bravado is a well-worn tradition for the closing days of the elections, and Plouffe was quick to seize upon Romney's plans to spend some of his final campaign stops in Virginia and Florida, two states he might not be able to afford losing come Tuesday night.

"We think Gov. Romney's playing defense," the White House aide said of Virginia and Florida. "I'd rather be the president today than Gov. Romney in terms of those two states."

Plouffe also characterized the Obama campaign's position in Iowa and Ohio — two footholds of the president's Midwestern "firewall" — as "commanding," though he cautioned the campaign must execute its get-out-the-vote efforts on Tuesday if it is to secure those states.

Follow the final weekend of the campaign with NBC Politics:

• NBC/WSJ poll: Obama 48, Romney 47
• Clinton joins Obama for rally capping whirlwind day
• Uncertain finale looms amid weekend campaign blitz
• Romney implores Colorado for 'one last push'
• Biden zings Romney in Colorado
• Ryan travels to Pennsylvania, trying to put state in play
• Obama plays up 'trust' in battleground Ohio
• Obama aide explains 'voting is best revenge' comment
• Ryan: 'We believe in change and hope'
• Romney strikes optimistic tone as final weekend opens
• Polls: Obama stays ahead in Ohio, deadlocked with Romney in Fla.
• GOP's chances at Senate imperiled by self-inflicted wounds

Could the vast disruption caused by Sandy prompt a delay in the Nov. 6 presidential election?  Voting may be extensively disrupted in some of the swing states, including Virginia and Ohio.

The answer is, yes, it could undoubtedly be delayed.  But it almost certainly won't be.

The Constitution gives Congress the authority to establish the day for presidential elections, and since 1845, a federal law has set the date as "the Tuesday after the first Monday in November." Congress could change the date, just as it could change any federal statute. But it would have to act quickly.

And of course, it's the states, not the federal government, that run elections in America.  Many states in areas not affected by Sandy's wrath would be likely to oppose a delay and its attendant costs. They could choose to go ahead with their elections for all but president and have a separate election for president later.  But such a move would undoubtedly suppress the turnout. 

Past disasters, including weather emergencies, have forced postponement of state and local elections.  New York state suspended its primary election in 2001 -- on September 11th, the day of the suicide hijack attacks. But few states have a regular procedure for doing it.  Florida, with its long experience in dealing with hurricanes, is one of the few with specific procedures in place, allowing the governor to suspend or delay elections.

Slideshow: Sandy slams into East Coast

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.

Launch slideshow

John Fortier, a nationally respected expert on presidential elections, points out additional problems, writing on a blog sponsored by the Moritz School of Law at Ohio State University. 

"If voting were disrupted and postponed in one state," Fortier says, "then we will likely know the results in all the other states before voting can resume in the affected state. If the affected state or states are determinative of the electoral college outcome, the pressure and focus on that one state would be enormous."

Among other questions, he says, are what to do with votes already cast.

Finally, consider the fact that never before the U.S. history has a presidential election been postponed or canceled, not even during the Civil War.

Slideshow: On the campaign trail

Reuters, Getty Images

In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.

Launch slideshow

The deadly hurricane that is sweeping across the Eastern seaboard interrupted early voting in some states Monday, even as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney urged voters in Ohio to cast their ballots early.

Speaking at a campaign event in Ohio, Romney noted the significance of early voting: “I know that early voting has begun. Get out there and vote, I see a voter right there. Get out and vote, we want ya early. We need you. It sends a very strong message ...”

He explained that “all the media follows how much early voting is going on, and they look at your zip code and where you live and make an estimate of whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, and they decide whether we’re ahead or we’re falling behind.”

But Hurricane Sandy’s path of disruption and destruction may turn some would-be early voters into old-fashioned Election Day voters if it keeps them from driving or walking to their poll station over the next few days.

Early voting has been under way in Ohio since Oct. 2. Much of the state was under high wind warnings from the National Weather Service for Monday and Tuesday.

Matt McClellan, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, said Monday that the county boards of elections prepare contingency plans for emergency situations that are reviewed by Husted’s office.

“The Secretary of State's office is also receiving daily updates from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency on the weather. We are confident that at this point in time local boards are prepared,” McClellan said.

In West Virginia – which, unlike its neighbor Ohio, hasn’t been a hotly contested state in the presidential race – snow was falling Monday as forecasters  predicted total snowfall of up to three feet in some parts of the state.

West Virginia has an early in-person voting option and early voting has been going on since last Wednesday. Secretary of State Natalie Tennant said in a statement Monday that early voting was continuing, but she cautioned, “If you don’t have to go out, stay inside and make sure you are ready for this storm. Be mindful of high water, downed power lines, and icy conditions. Please, do not go out and risk your safety to try and make it to an early voting location. There are several more days of early voting and even Election Day, which is next Tuesday.”

Tennant said her office is working with county clerks to develop contingency plans for early voting locations in the event that electricity is cut off.

In Maryland, with its coastline directly in the path of Hurricane Sandy, Gov. Martin O’Malley issued an executive order Sunday canceling early voting for Monday and Tuesday and extending the early voting period through Friday.

In Virginia, a state that Romney and President Barack Obama have fought fiercely to win, absentee voting is permitted (by mail or in person) in cases where a person will be absent from the state on business on Election Day or in cases of disability or illness.

Due to the hurricane, local election offices were closed Monday in several of the state’s largest cities and counties including Loudon County, Arlington County, and Fairfax County.

In-person absentee voting in Virginia ends at the close of business on Saturday.

Other states in the track of Hurricane Sandy that do not allow for early in-person voting are: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and Connecticut. They do permit absentee ballots to be cast by mail, although in some cases a reason is required.

In Pennsylvania, where Vice President Joe Biden will be campaigning Friday and where a pro-Romney Super PAC will be spending $2 million on TV ads in the final days of the campaign, there is no early in-person voting, but voters can mail in an absentee ballot.

Slideshow: On the campaign trail

Reuters, Getty Images

In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.

Launch slideshow

The deadline in Pennsylvania for applying to a voter’s county Board of Elections for an absentee ballot is Tuesday. Completed absentee ballots must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, but since this is a presidential election year, the state will count absentee ballots received by the close of the polls on Election Day for the offices of president and vice president.

The hurricane’s impact on voters was reaching as far away as Minnesota, where Secretary of State Mark Ritchie told people in his state who were being deployed to the East Coast to assist with the emergency response to Hurricane Sandy to vote absentee-in-person before they leave or to request an absentee ballot.

“We want to make sure every eligible Minnesota voter can vote. My office is contacting emergency-response organizations, utility companies and relevant government agencies to ensure that those who have already departed and others who are being mobilized can vote,” Ritchie said in a statement.

Updated at 9:16 p.m. ET: An impending hurricane injected a new degree of uncertainty into the 2012 presidential campaign, impacting candidates' schedules and early voting opportunities just nine days before Election Day.

President Barack Obama called the storm "serious and big" following a briefing at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA), warning residents in the storm's path "to take this very seriously."

The president also canceled campaign trips to Virginia and Colorado scheduled for early this week, the last full week of campaigning this election, in order to monitor Hurricane Sandy. The storm's impending landfall was poised to add a new variable to a presidential contest that has tightened considerably in its closing days, along with scores of downballot races up and down the East Coast.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney canceled planned stops in Virginia — one of the most hotly-contested battleground states this fall — on Sunday and headed to Ohio instead. 

Obama spent Sunday in Washington, where he traveled to FEMA headquarters following church services early this afternoon. The administration authorized several emergency declarations for states sitting in Sandy's path, and Obama convened a conference call with administration officials and governors in the storm's path to receive an update on preparations.

The storm put some of Obama's campaigning on hold, as he canceled a northern Virginia event for that afternoon, along with an event in Colorado Springs on Tuesday. Obama was still set, though, to travel to Youngtown, Ohio on Monday morning. The president appears — for now — intent upon returning to the campaign trail on Tuesday evening in Green Bay, Wis. His campaign also advised on Sunday afternoon that two stops on Wednesday in Ohio would go forward.

The storm might have rearranged Romney's own campaign itinerary, though it's unclear whether the GOP presidential hopeful will be able to return to Virginia soon. Romney didn't address the storm in his remarks in Celine, Ohio, but his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, urged voters in the Buckeye State to keep East Coasters in their thoughts and prayers.

Nonetheless, the hurricane could prove to be the proverbial "October Surprise" of this campaign as it upended other elements of the election well before it had even made landfall.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) canceled early voting in his state for Monday, a decision other east coast governors could mirror. That could have an especially pronounced impact on a state like Virginia, a battleground state in the presidential election and home to a competitive Senate race.

Late Sunday, Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order to extend in-person voter registration in Connecticut to Thursday, Nov. 1. The deadline had originally been Tuesday.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, said on Sunday's TODAY show that he didn't worry about power outages or other complications from the storm diminishing voting in the state.

"It's going to be, probably, seven days from the time the storm passes 'til Election Day," he said. "We've already taken precautions to move up polling places to a higher spot for restoration. The power companies are well aware of that. So I don't think it's going to interfere with voting."

But Democrats are counting on robust turnout — both through early voting and on Nov. 6 — to propel Obama to a second term. While Sandy's projected path is uncertain, its rain and wind could discourage voters in the key swing state of Ohio from voting early, a practice employed by both campaigns to bank votes ahead of Election Day.

"Obviously we want unfettered access to the polls, because we believe that the more people come out, the better we’re going to do,” David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama's re-election campaign, said Sunday on CNN. “And so, to the extent that it makes it harder, that’s a source of concern.”

The president himself downplayed worries about the storm's impact on voting. 

"We don't anticipate that at this point but we're obviously going to have to take a look," he said in Washington following his FEMA briefing.

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

Campaign social media tracking for Tuesday, Oct. 23. Click the image for the full report.

A majority of social media users believes President Barack Obama did better in this week's foreign policy presidential debate than Republican nominee Mitt Romney did, according to NBC Politics' computer-assisted analysis of almost 1 million posts during and after the debate.

M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for NBC News. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

The data indicate that Obama's attack line about "horses and bayonets" Monday night had less effect than was presumed in the immediate post-debate media analysis — and may even have hurt Obama as much as it helped him, once Romney partisans widely circulated rebuttals from conservative-leaning commentators.

But more commenters cited Romney's frequent agreements with Obama as evidence that he had nothing new to offer on foreign policy, helping Obama's advantage grow as time has passed.

NBC Politics analyzed 988,000 post-debate posts on Twitter and Facebook using a tool called ForSight, a data platform developed by Crimson Hexagon Inc., which many research and business organizations have adopted to gauge public opinion in new media. It isn't the same as traditional surveys, which seek to reflect national opinion; instead, it's a broad, non-predictive snapshot of what's being said by Americans who follow politics and are active on Facebook, Twitter or both at a particular moment in time, and why they're saying it.

Overall, a slim majority favored Obama in comments posted through 1:30 p.m. ET Wednesday:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

That works out to a 51 percent to 49 percent advantage among people who expressed a clear preference for either candidate.

More social media analysis from NBCPolitics.com

Explainer: Can you scientifically quantify social media opinion?

Favorable sentiment swung noticeably as media commentators weighed in with their arguments. For example, Obama initially held a slim advantage the day after the debate:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

A visual representation of the topics people discussed overnight and into early Tuesday morning indicates that people reacted to broad impressions:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

But after commentators and analysts began being heard on the morning television news shows and read in the morning papers, people developed firmer positions as the day progressed. A different visualization breaks out the specific topics people talked about Tuesday — not only Iran and other foreign policy issues, but also economic issues:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

People who favored Romney were impressed by his firmness and his arguments that the administration mishandled the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last month:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

Twitter.com — 1:25 a.m. ET, Oct. 24

People who favored Obama, by contrast, picked up on both candidates' insistence on pivoting toward the economy:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

Twitter.com — 9:36 p.m. ET Oct. 22

What appeared to have been a key moment in the debate came when Obama responded to Romney's assertion that the U.S. military was weaker today than it had ever been, specifically citing what he characterized as the shrinking U.S. warship fleet. Obama's rejoinder lit up Twitter and Facebook.

You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed.

On Tuesday, however, media organizations — among them The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times — and conservative commentators began running the numbers, and they largely concluded that Obama's zinger wasn't completely justified.

One article in particular, by the commentator AWR Hawkins on the conservative site Breitbart.com, gained heavy traction among conservative commentators on social media, being cited hundreds of times by Romney defenders as evidence that Obama didn't know what he was talking about:

Twitter.com — 11:04 p.m. ET Oct. 23

Facebook.com — 6:33 a.m. ET Oct. 23

Obama supporters began a counterattack Wednesday, widely circulating Rush Limbaugh's remarks Tuesday:

In fact, a lot of people on our side thought he agreed with Obama too much. A lot of people on our side didn't like that debate last night, folks, I'll just tell you. If my circle of friends is any indication, a lot of people thought Romney got his clock cleaned, didn't like it at all, think the election's lost. I'm not kidding you.

The topic dominated pro-Obama discussion late Tuesday through midday Wednesday:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.

Twitter.com — 11:23 p.m. ET Oct. 23

Facebook.com — 9:25 p.m. ET Oct. 23

Commentary like that appeared to be taking a toll. Overall, Obama's advantage remained within a couple of points. But then there's the chart just for Wednesday:

NBC Politics and Crimson Hexagon Inc.