ATLANTA (AP) — At least for now, a federal judge won’t order the state of Georgia to reopen voter registration for the November election.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross ruled after a hearing Wednesday that three voting rights groups have not yet done enough to prove that the damage and disruption caused by Hurricane Helene unfairly deprived people of the opportunity to register last week. Monday was the registration deadline for Georgia. Instead, Ross has scheduled another hearing for Thursday to consider additional evidence and legal arguments.
Ross questioned whether the groups had proven they suffered injuries, noting that the plaintiffs had not yet come forward with a single person who said they were unable to register to vote because of the storm.
“They didn’t get me close enough to see the injury,” Ross said in denying the plaintiffs’ motion.
State officials and the state Republican Party argue that ordering counties to register additional voters as they prepare for early in-person voting next Tuesday would be a weighty burden on counties.
The lawsuit was filed by the Georgia Conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the New Georgia Project. All three groups say they had to cancel voter registration activities last week. Historically, there has been a surge in voter registrations in Georgia near the deadline, the plaintiffs said.
“Because these voters were unable to register by Oct. 7, they are deprived of their fundamental right to vote,” said Amir Badat, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is representing the plaintiffs.
Georgia has 8.2 million registered voters, according to online records from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office. But since Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was decided by just 12,000 votes, a few thousand votes could make a difference in whether Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris wins the state’s 16 electoral votes.
The groups say the storm prevented people from registering online due to widespread power and internet outages, and that people were unable to register in person as at least 37 county election offices were temporarily closed last week. They also note that postal service has been temporarily suspended in 27 counties, including the cities of Augusta, Savannah, Statesboro, Dublin and Vidalia.
Closed offices and delayed mail are particularly crucial for people who do not have ID and must register in person or by mail, said Julie Houk of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Houk said county election offices were understandably closed because of the hurricane, even though state law requires them to be open.
“On the other hand, the state wants to interpret its deadline strictly against people who lose the fundamental right to vote,” she said.
Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Young said a recent U.S. Supreme Court case limits associations’ ability to file these types of lawsuits. She also argued that the plaintiffs should sue county election officials because they have primary responsibility for processing voter registration applications. She said neither Raffensperger nor Gov. Brian Kemp, the named defendants, had the authority to extend voter registration deadlines.
Young said voting rights groups and everyone trying to register were hurt by the hurricane, not the government’s actions.
“They have not identified a single plaintiff who they claim was harmed by the failure to register as a voter,” she said, adding that counties “do not need this additional burden placed on them.”
Young and Brad Carver, an attorney for the state and national Republican Party, both argued that people could have registered earlier.
“We have to point out that the registration window has been open for a very long time,” Carver said. “This court must take into account that people were able to register for many, many months.”
A federal judge in Florida rejected a request to reopen voter registration in that state after hearing arguments Wednesday. The plaintiffs are considering whether to appeal. The lawsuit by the Florida chapters of the League of Women Voters and the NAACP alleges that thousands of people may have missed the registration deadline because they were recovering from Helene or preparing to evacuate Milton.
A court in South Carolina extended that state’s registration deadline after Helene, and courts in Georgia and Florida extended registration deadlines after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. In North Carolina, which was harder hit by Hurricane Helene, the registration deadline does not end until Friday. Voters can also register and cast their ballots there at the same time during the state’s early in-person voting period, which runs from Oct. 17 to Nov. 2.
