Hurricane Sandy is swirling towards the US, forcing presidential candidates to adjust schedules and cancel events.
President Barack Obama has held a conference call with emergency chiefs to discuss preparations for the storm, which could hit as early as Monday.
Its sustained winds of 75mph (120km/h) are set to intensify as it merges with a wintry storm from the western US.
Swing states like Florida and Ohio lie in its path, meaning how it is handled could impact on voting, analysts say.
At 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT on Sunday), the eye of the storm was about 330 miles south of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center.
There are concerns that severe winter conditions, strong winds and storm surges could affect election campaigning and might even hamper polling day on 6 November.
Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said: “This is not a coastal threat alone. This is a very large area.”
Up to 60 million Americans could be affected.
Sandy has already killed 60 people in the Caribbean as it swirled north during the past week.
