RALEIGH, N.C. _ A North Carolina judge late Friday afternoon ordered state voter registration extended in 36 counties facing major floods from Hurricane Matthew.
The counties include Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Harnett, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Nash, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Tyrrell, Washington, Wayne and Wilson.
The state Democratic Party is suing to extend the voter registration deadline to Wednesday.
The party filed the lawsuit against state Board of Elections Executive Director Kim Westbrook Strach in Wake County Superior Court on Friday afternoon.
The suit says that her refusal to extend the deadline creates a hardship for people displaced by Hurricane Matthew and flooding.
The State Board of Elections this week denied requests from the state Democratic Party, the state NAACP and Common Cause NC to extend the voter registration deadline. People who do not register by Friday, Oct. 14, will not be able to vote on Nov. 8.
Part of the rationale for not extending the deadline is that people will have the chance to register and vote during the early voting period that begins Oct. 20.
People making the case for pushing back the Friday deadline said people who were flooded out of their homes don't have access to documents needed to register during early voting.
