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

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and civil rights groups are asking election officials in the states ravaged by Hurricane Helene to give voters more time to register for the Nov. 5 presidential election. 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, but that could change when the Legislature meets next week to consider adjustments to state election laws. There also was no immediate movement to shift registration deadlines in Florida or in Georgia, the other major swing state that was in the storm’s path.