Civil rights groups ask to extend voter registration deadlines in hurricane-ravaged states
WASHINGTON — As registration deadlines approach, Democrats and civil rights groups are asking election officials in states they’ve hit Hurricane Helene to give voters more time.
A judge in South Carolina on Friday extended that state’s deadline to Oct. 14, but the outlook in other hard-hit states is uncertain.
In North Carolina, one of the most contentious presidential battlegrounds, election officials do not plan to extend the Oct. 11 voter registration deadline, said Patrick Gannon, spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections. That could change when the Legislature meets next week to consider changes to state election laws.
The storm and floods unleashed by Helene devastated a large area around the mountain town of Asheville, killing dozens and sweeping away roads and bridges.
Gannon said elections offices will process voter registration forms sent before the deadline and received by Oct. 16. Eligible voters may also register during North Carolina’s in-person voting period, which begins Oct. 17.
In Georgia, the other major presidential swing state in the storm’s path, at least 40 advocacy groups wrote to Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, urging them to push back the registration deadline in affected counties by at least a week to extend. past Monday’s deadline.
The groups said the devastation severely limited Georgian voters’ ability to register for the upcoming presidential elections, whether online, in person or by mail.
“If there are any circumstances that warrant an extension of the deadline, these are those circumstances,” said Amir Badat, voting rights attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, one of the groups that requested the extension.
The Georgia secretary of state’s office said it is evaluating what effects the hurricane had on election offices across the state and ensuring polling places are fully functional for voters, spokesman Mike Hassinger said. As of Friday, there was no reason to change the registration deadline.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund sent a similar letter Friday to officials in Florida, including Governor Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd.
DeSantis, a Republican, issued an executive order implementing a number of storm-related election changes for the 13 counties affected by the hurricane, including changes to early voting locations. But the order did not include an extension of voter registration.
Friday’s decision in South Carolina came after a lawsuit filed by the state Democratic Party. The South Carolina Election Commission said it needed the judge’s order because it did not have the authority to change the voter registration deadline.
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Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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