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North Carolina, Georgia judges order extension of voter-registration deadlines

FILE - In this March 18, 2014 file photo, voters cast their ballots in the Illinois primary in Hinsdale, Ill. A federal judge has scaled back Election Day voter registration for highly populated areas in Illinois, a decision that sides with Republicans who claimed in a lawsuit that last year's extension of same-day registration is unconstitutional. Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan's move on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, temporarily blocks wider same-day registration lawmakers put into effect in 2015. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FILE - In this March 18, 2014 file photo, voters cast their ballots in the Illinois primary in Hinsdale, Ill. A federal judge has scaled back Election Day voter registration for highly populated areas in Illinois, a decision that sides with Republicans who claimed in a lawsuit that last year's extension of same-day registration is unconstitutional. Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan's move on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, temporarily blocks wider same-day registration lawmakers put into effect in 2015. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

By Associated Press 1 min read

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Judges in Georgia and North Carolina on Friday ordered state election officials to extend voter-registration deadlines in some counties due to disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew, which forced thousands of people to evacuate and temporarily closed some government offices.

The judges’ rulings came after Georgia’s governor and North Carolina’s state board of elections’ executive director had declined to extend the deadlines.

In Georgia, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. ruled residents of Chatham County, which includes Savannah, must be allowed to register through next Tuesday, Oct. 18 – a week after the original deadline passed.

“Extending a small degree of common courtesy by allowing impacted individuals a few extra days to register to vote seems like a rather small consolation on behalf of their government,” Moore wrote in his order.

In North Carolina, a state judge ordered election officials to extend the deadline in 36 eastern counties of the state because of disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew.