Lawsuit seeks to reopen voter registration in Georgia after Hurricane Helene

ATLANTA (AP) — Three voting rights groups are asking a federal judge to order the state of Georgia to reopen voter registration for November’s elections due to Hurricane Helene.

The groups argue in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Atlanta that damage and disruptions from Hurricane Helene unfairly deprived people of the opportunity to register last week, in advance of the state’s Monday registration deadline.

The lawsuit filed by the Georgia conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the New Georgia Project seeks to have registration reopened through Oct. 14. All three groups say they had to cancel voter registration activities last week. Historically, there’s a spike in Georgia voter registrations just before the deadline, the plaintiffs said.

“Absent action by this court, the likely thousands of voters who could not register while power was down, roads were impassible and county election and post offices were closed will be unfairly disenfranchised, an injury that can never be undone,” the plaintiffs wrote in court papers seeking a temporary restraining order reopening registration from U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross.

The judge scheduled a Wednesday hearing on the request.

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