COLUMBIA, S.C. — The voter registration deadline has been moved to October 14, after a judge granted the request from the South Carolina Democratic Party (SCDP) to give potential new voters more time in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
The SCDP filed a motion Thursday night against the SC Election Commission, which does not have the legal authority to change the deadline on their own.
The original registration deadline for in person registration was Friday, while online and mail-in had to be done by Sunday.
But in the wake of Hurricane Helene, many voters registration locations were closed in the days leading up to that deadline across the state. Lack of power and internet can also impact people's ability to register, when many are just now tuning into the election, says SCDP Executive Director Jay Parmley.
"We have thousands of people in South Carolina who their lives have been altered, they're still displaced, some don't have power, some don't have internet, so how can you register to vote, even though you can do it by mail, you can do it online, you can go somewhere, but how do you do it in these final days before the deadline?" asked Parmley.
Several other civil rights organization also requested an extension. In a letter to state officials, the Legal Defense Fund, American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, and League of Women Voters of South Carolina requested the deadline be extended and pointed to legal precedent in 2016 when the deadline was extended after Hurricane Matthew and 2018 when the Governor and Attorney General requested an extension after Hurricane Florence.
"Hurricane Helene has impacted and continues to impact the power, fuel, communications, and transportation infrastructure across many counties in South Carolina....Unfortunately, all of this coincides with the final days of voter registration in South Carolina," the letter reads.
The representatives for the South Carolina Election Commission said in a virtual hearing for the suit this morning that they were prepared should the extension happen to finalize voter registration in the shortened preparation period. Moving the date back will give the Commission just a week to prepare before early voting begins on October 21.
"We have some wiggle room, we have some processes in place so that if a voter registration deadline changes we’re able to take that on," said TJ Lundeen with the SC Election Commission. "We would add just an augmented list so that anyone who registers during that new window... they would be on an additional list each precinct would get and they would be able to check their traditional voter logs and check their augmented list to make sure that anyone who was a new registrant was still active and able to vote."
With the new deadline, anyone who wants to register to vote can do so in person at their county voter registration locations, online, or by printing out a mail-in registration, all of which you can find at SCVotes.gov.