Three nonpartisan civil rights organizations have sent a letter to South Carolina officials requesting a one-week extension on voter registration deadlines.
The Legal Defense Fund, ACLU of South Carolina, and League of Women Voters of South Carolina sent the letter to South Carolina’s governor, attorney general, and State Election Commission on Oct. 3.
The request comes as South Carolinians work to recover from Hurricane Helene, one of the state’s worst natural disasters, which has left at least 35 people dead in the state and at least 440,000 people without electricity as of mid-week.
“Hurricane Helene has impacted and continues to impact the power, fuel, communications, and transportation infrastructure across many counties in South Carolina,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, all of this coincides with the final days of voter registration in South Carolina.”
The deadline to register in person for the General Election is today, Friday, October 4; the deadline to register online, by fax, or by email is Sunday October 6; and the deadline to register by mail is Monday, October 7. Given the storm’s ongoing impact, the letter asks the state to extend the deadline for all registration methods (online, in-person, and by-mail) to Monday, October 14 or direct the South Carolina Attorney General to file suit to do the same.
The letter points to precedent for extending voter registration deadlines, including in 2016 when registration deadlines were extended in response to Hurricane Matthew.
The letter also asks the state to issue a statement informing voters that they can still vote if their photo identification was lost or damaged due to the storm:
“First, registered voters can visit their county election office to obtain a same-day voter registration card with a photo, and with that cast a regular ballot. Second, registered voters can still vote provisionally in this upcoming election if they have their non-photo voter registration card. And third, registered voters can vote provisionally without a photo identification or non-photo voter registration card, if they are able to obtain a photo identification prior to certification of the election.”
A copy of the letter is available here: https://www.aclusc.org/en/
