A federal judge in Atlanta declined Wednesday to order Georgia’s secretary of state to restore to the voter rolls nearly 200,000 state residents, whose registrations civil rights groups contend were wrongly canceled. 

But in a 34-page order, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones of the Northern District of Georgia “strongly encourage[d]” the parties to meet “ and determine the explanation, if any” for “alleged inaccuracies” on a list of tens of thousands of canceled voter registrations, based on claims those voters had changed their residences.