Civil rights groups sue Georgia in effort to extend voter registration deadline, citing Hurricane Helene impact

By Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — Civil rights groups sued Georgia on Monday in an effort to extend the state’s voter registration deadline by a week to account for residents who may not have been able to register in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which wreaked havoc in the state leading up to the deadline.

The lawsuit filed in federal court by a coalition of civil rights groups argues that Hurricane Helene made landfall just days before the start of a critical week-long stretch before the October 7 deadline, when registration in the state typically spikes, disrupting that final batch of registrations.

The group’s attorneys claim that the “massive and widespread disruptions and devastation” caused by Helene in the state “likely prevented tens of thousands of Georgia residents from timely registering to vote because they lacked internet access, could not travel, lacked access to postal services, or had no operational county election office.”

They are seeking to extend the deadline until next Monday.

CNN has reached out to Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s office for comment on the lawsuit.

Voting rights advocates have similarly tried to get Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis to extend that state’s deadline, which passed on Monday, citing Helene and the approaching Hurricane Milton, which is expected to hit the Tampa Bay area in the next day or two.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.