The state will keep Friday as the deadline for regular voter registration, the State Board of Elections announced Wednesday, despite the upheaval in eastern counties awash in floodwater. Common Cause NC this week asked the elections board to extend the regular registration deadline to Oct. 19. On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat representing counties hit by flooding after Hurricane Matthew, asked the state elections board to reconsider extending the deadline. “It would be a travesty to look at the dire situation that is being endured by people in these communities who are fighting against unparalleled flooding and not grant them additional days so that they can register to vote and exercise their fundamental right in November,” Butterfield said in a statement.
Only people who register by Friday will have a choice between casting ballots on Election Day and during the early voting period that begins Oct. 20. But those who are not registered by Friday will have more chances. They can register and vote at the same time during early voting.
“Despite the devastating effects of the hurricane, we want all eligible North Carolinians to know the many options available to register and vote in this election,” Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections, said in a statement.
Full Article: No extension for voter registration after Hurricane Matthew | News & Observer.com.