Federal Court Declines to Extend Georgia's Voter Registration Deadline as State Recovers From Hurricane Helene

A federal court declined to extend Georgia’s voter registration deadline despite the destructive impacts of Hurricane Helene in the state.

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia, Legal Defense Fund, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the law firm Cooley LLP were in court this week seeking an order to extend the voter registration deadline to Monday, October 14.

The groups filed the lawsuit on October 7, the initial registration deadline, on behalf of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, and New Georgia Project.

They sought to extend the deadline one week so that residents across the state who were not able to register to vote because of widespread flooding, damaged roadways, power and internet outages, as well as suspended postal service and the closure of county boards of election offices, were able to make their voices heard in November.

The parties issued the following joint statement in response to today’s ruling:

“Georgia already has one of the earliest voter registration deadlines in the country, and it is unfortunate it will not provide an extension so people who lost their ability to register due to power and internet outages, flooding, and other losses could make their voices heard. We turn now to encouraging those registered to exercise their right to vote and fighting to make sure that those votes are counted.”