A judge denied a petition by a civil liberties group that sought to allow voters displaced by Hurricane Sandy to vote using federal write-in absentee ballots, the group reported.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey says its disappointed its petition was denied earlier today.

“We are disappointed that the judge denied our petition. Although we understand these are unusual circumstances that the lieutenant governor and the Division of Elections are dealing with, our concern was with how it was being implemented at the county level,” the group said in a statement.

“Because of the large volume of complaints from voters who were not getting a response to their email or fax requests for ballots, we would’ve liked to have another method that provided more assurance that the votes of displaced New Jersey residents would be counted,” the group said.

The ACLU-NJ asked a judge to allow displaced families to be permitted to cast ballots in the same fashion afforded to members of the military who are serving overseas.

“The remedy that we offered was one that is familiar to New Jersey elections officials and that can be used by overseas residents and members of our military who are serving overseas,” the group said.