Civil rights groups ask to extend voter registration deadlines in hurricane-ravaged states

WASHINGTON — With registration deadlines looming, Democrats and civil rights groups are asking election officials in the states ravaged by Hurricane Helene to give voters more time.

A judge in South Carolina on Friday extended that state’s deadline to Oct. 14, but prospects are uncertain in the other hard-hit states.

In North Carolina, one of the most fiercely contested presidential battlegrounds, election officials aren’t planning to extend the Oct. 11 voter registration deadline, North Carolina State Board of Elections spokesperson Patrick Gannon said. That could change when the Legislature meets next week to consider adjustments to state election laws.

The storm and the floods unleashed by Helene devastated a wide area around the mountain town of Asheville, leaving dozens dead and wiping out roads and bridges.

Gannon said election offices will process voter registration forms mailed by the deadline and received by Oct. 16. Eligible voters also are allowed to register during North Carolina’s in-person voting period that starts Oct. 17.

In Georgia, the other major presidential swing state in the storm’s path, at least 40 advocacy groups wrote Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, urging them to extend the registration deadline in the affected counties by at least a week beyond Monday’s deadline.

The groups said the devastation severely limits Georgia voters’ ability to register for the upcoming presidential election, whether online, in-person or by mail.

“If there are any circumstances that would merit extending the deadline, these are those circumstances,” said Amir Badat, a voting rights lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, one of the groups requesting the extension.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office said it’s evaluating what effects the hurricane had on elections offices around the state and is making sure polling places are fully functional for voters, spokesperson Mike Hassinger said. As of Friday, there was no move to alter the registration deadline.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund sent a similar letter Friday to Florida officials, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd.

DeSantis, a Republican, has issued an executive order making some storm-related election modifications for the 13 counties affected by the hurricane, including changes to early voting sites. But the order did not include an extension for 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 didn’t have the authority on its own to change the voter registration deadline.

Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.