A federal judge in Florida rejected an emergency request from The League of Women Voters of Florida and the Florida NAACP to extend the voter registration deadline in the state.
The groups brought their request as Florida's registration deadline for the presidential election fell on Monday, between back-to-back hurricanes in the state. On Wednesday night, US District Court Judge Robert Hinkle declined to extend the deadline, saying in a hearing that "the problem is not something that is going to be solved by the court.”
Hinkle said that voters had ample time to register before Hurricane Helene made landfall in the state's Big Bend region and added that voters could have still registered while they were preparing for (or fleeing from) Hurricane Milton.
“If they had evacuated, they still could have registered while evacuating if they had a cell phone,” he said.
The petitioners had hoped to extend the deadline by 10 days. Hinkle cited the already charged environment surrounding election integrity in the hearing, saying that election officials didn't need further pressure in "the most closely watched election ever."
Governor Ron DeSantis declined to extend the deadline earlier in the week.
“People can register today, and then that’s that. There’s nothing inhibiting your registering today. The storm has not hit yet,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Monday.
A similar case was rejected in Georgia, with US District Judge Eleanor Ross saying the plaintiffs didn't point to anyone "specifically" who was harmed.
“We did not hear from anyone specifically who could not register to vote,” Ross said.
