Virginia Voter Sign-Up Resumes Amid Calls to Extend Deadline

Virginia Online Registration Stopped Due to Network Outage

14 Oct 2020, 02:43 AM IST

(Bloomberg) -- Voter registration in Virginia resumed hours after utility workers accidentally cut a cable, knocking the system offline for most of the day and spurring calls to extend Tuesday’s deadline to register for the Nov. 3 election.

Three Virginia Democratic members of Congress urged that registration be extended by three days. The shutdown “threatens to prevent many Virginians from casting their ballots,” Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly and Jennifer Wexton said in a statement tweeted by Beyer.

Nearly one million Virginians already have voted, showing the importance voters attach to participating in the election, the lawmakers said.

The state’s governor, Ralph Northam, told reporters that he lacks the authority to extend the registration period but would support a court order to do so, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

The system failure began in the morning and affected an online portal offering registration “along with local registrar’s offices across the commonwealth,” Andrea Gaines, a spokeswoman for the elections department, said in an email.

Service was restored about 2:30 p.m., said Richard Young, a spokesman for Verizon Communications Inc.

In mid-afternoon the Virginia Department of Elections said its online portal was back up. “You can go to http://elections.virginia.gov/voterinfo to register to vote, update information or check your registration status,” the department said in a tweet.

The shutdown was caused when a cable “was inadvertently struck” during a roadside utility project in central Virginia, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency said in a tweet. Citizens began reporting that the website was down as early as 9 a.m., according to the agency.

Virginia, once a conservative bastion, has swung toward Democrats as its prosperous counties near Washington grow. Hillary Clinton carried Virginia by 5 percentage points, and Barack Obama twice won the state.

As of late September, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was up 11 points over President Donald Trump in Virginia, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.