Georgia's voter registration deadline won't be extended because of Hurricane Helene, judge says

A federal judge has denied a request to extend Georgia’s voter registration deadline to Monday despite power outages and damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

The deadline to register for the Nov. 5 general election was Monday. But three civil rights groups — the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the New Georgia Project — filed a lawsuit against Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking an extension because of the hurricane.

At a hearing Thursday in Atlanta, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross denied the request. She said the plaintiffs had not established that Kemp or Raffensperger had the authority to extend the deadline. And she said the plaintiffs had failed to show that harm to unspecified voters outweighed the state’s interest in the orderly operation of elections.

Hurricane Helene dropped more than 11 inches of rain on Georgia when it hit two weeks ago. It caused widespread flooding and power outages, and at least 33 people died in the state.



https://www.ajc.com/politics/election/georgias-voter-registration-deadline-wont-be-extended-because-of-hurricane-helene-judge-says/2JGSSF5TXRFYNEEGTGZS2AMZ7U/