Voting rights groups seek to extend Florida registration deadline due to hurricanes

Voting rights groups have asked a federal judge to extend Florida's voter registration deadline ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, citing disruptions from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Tallahassee on Tuesday, the League of Women Voters of Florida and the state NAACP chapter said they had asked Governor Ron DeSantis last week to extend the Oct. 7 deadline by 10 days, but he declined.

DeSantis' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Millions of people on Florida's west coast were under evacuation orders on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton lashed the region with rain and wind hours ahead of its expected landfall just two weeks after Helene cut a path of destruction.

The rights groups said aspiring voters had no way to register due to the state's emergency measures.

"Tens of thousands of Florida residents - forced to choose between safety and exercising their fundamental right - have been denied the opportunity to register to vote," the groups wrote.

DeSantis is an ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate in the 2024 election.

Polls have shown Trump is neck and neck with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, in the battleground states needed to win in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the outcome.

Florida, the third-most populous U.S. state, is home to 30 electoral votes - a massive prize toward the 270 votes needed to win. While historically a battleground state, it has shifted right in recent years. — Reuters