Federal judges are refusing to extend voter registration deadlines in Georgia and Florida as the states face hurricane damage

CNN
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Two federal judges have rejected requests to immediately restart voter registration in Georgia and Florida as the Southeast continues to grapple with significant storm damage ahead of the November election.

Southern states affected by Hurricane Helene are under intense pressure from voter and civil rights groups to give residents more time, given the devastation caused by the storm and the disruption already caused by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall late on Florida's west coast to register to vote Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta ruled Thursday that there was a “lack of clarity and detail” in arguments made by the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda and the New Georgia Project to extend the deadline by a week on the ways in which certain people were harmed was lacking.

Lawyers for Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — both Republicans — argued that extending the voter registration deadline would impose a significant “administrative burden” on the state’s election offices.

Ross agreed with the ruling, saying, “The harm to the state's interests outweighs the plaintiffs' interests.”

“Plaintiffs have not pointed to any law or authority requiring defendants to extend the deadline,” said Ross, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. “We have not heard from anyone specifically who was unable to register to vote.”

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Florida also rejected a request from civil rights groups to reopen that state's voter registration window, which closed Monday as the state was recovering from Hurricane Helene and preparing for Hurricane Milton.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, denied the request a day after the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Florida NAACP filed the case.

The groups had argued that the Oct. 7 deadline was “sandwiched between two life-threatening obstacles” that forced some residents to choose between seeking safety from the hurricanes and voting.

Without an extension, the groups' attorneys wrote in court filings, future voters “would be deprived of this fundamental right due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, the security threat caused by Hurricane Milton, and the resulting closure of all voting options” in the final weeks before expiration Voter registration deadline, registration, including government offices, roads, internet and mail, was conducted twice.”

As Florida prepared for Milton on Monday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that “nothing” is stopping unregistered voters from registering before the deadline later in the day.

“People can sign up today and then it’s done. Nothing stands in the way of your registration today. The storm has not struck yet,” DeSantis said Monday during a news conference in response to a question about whether the storm would provide flexibility in registration.

“Now, after the storm, we will see what damage there is. And if I need to issue a similar executive order that I issued with (Hurricane) Ian and then with Helene, we're happy to do that. However, we will not be changing registration deadlines. You can register today and there’s no need to – there’s no reason to open this up,” the governor said.

This story has been updated with additional developments.