COLUMBIA, S.C. — The deadline to register to vote in South Carolina has been extended until October 14, after a judge granted a request to push back the date following the impacts in the state from Helene.
Judge Daniel Coble issued a temporary restraining order Friday after a request by the South Carolina Democratic Party to extend the time for people to register. The party had argued the widespread damage from the storm has meant thousands of people across the state have been unable to register if they needed to by the old deadline, which was Friday, October 4.
The South Carolina Election Commission said several county voter registration offices were closed for days before being able to reopen for registration, while offices in Edgefield, Laurens, and McCormick have remained closed due to the storm. The extended deadline applies to voters in all counties, the state elections agency said.
The storm began dumping heavy rain in the state last Thursday then turned around and brought high winds the next morning. Those winds toppled thousands of powerlines and trees and knocked out power to almost 1.4 million customers statewide. While that number has gone down dramaticallysince then, 267,000 customers were still without power as of noon Friday, according to PowerOutage.us.
There are several ways to register in South Carolina, and it only takes a few minutes.
- Register online at scVOTES.gov before midnight, Monday, October 14 (requires SC Driver’s License or DMV ID Card).
- Download a voter registration formfrom scVOTES.gov. Complete and return the form to your county voter registration office:
- By fax (must be received before midnight, Monday, October 14).
- By email attachment (must be received before midnight, Monday, October 14).
- By mail (must be postmarked by Monday, October 14).
- Register in person at your county voter registration office. Most offices will close at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 14 for in-office registrations. Check locally for specific hours.