A federal judge ordered Virginia to reopen its voter registration through Thursday after a cut cable shut down the state’s entire voter registration system.
Officials with Virginia’s Department of elections identified the issue Tuesday morning, the last day to register to vote in Virginia. “This morning we were alerted by VITA that a fiber cut near the Commonwealth Enterprise Solutions Center was impacting data circuits and VPN connectivity for multiple agencies. This has affected the citizen portal along w/ registrar’s offices,” the announcement read. “Technicians are on site and working to repair; updates will be provided as work progresses.”
This morning we were alerted by VITA that a fiber cut near the Commonwealth Enterprise Solutions Center was impacting data circuits and VPN connectivity for multiple agencies. This has affected the citizen portal along w/ registrar’s offices.
— VA Dept of Elections (@vaELECT) October 13, 2020
The Department of Elections tweeted Tuesday afternoon that the issue had been resolved and that the registration portal was live.
Thank you everyone for your patience! The citizen portal is back up, you can go to https://t.co/8vK06RBLHl to register to vote, update information or check your registration status.
— VA Dept of Elections (@vaELECT) October 13, 2020
A lawsuit was filed Tuesday night to extend the deadline by 48 hours to make up for the shutdown. The lawsuit was filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and defendants included the Department of Elections, the Virginia State Board of Elections, and several elections officials, according to the Associated Press.
“Absent relief, voters who attempted to register to vote through the online portal on October 13, 2020, but were unable through no fault of their own, will be absolutely disenfranchised in the upcoming elections,” the lawsuit said.
Judge John Gibney Jr. said that the extension applies to both in-person registration and online.
“Maybe people will learn two lessons from this case,” Gibney said. “One is to call Mr. Utility, and the other is to not let things go until the last minute,” saying during the hearing that election workers should have taken more preventative measures to keep the cable that had been cut safe, according to the Washington Post.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said that his office was not allowed to extend the voting deadline unilaterally, according to CNN. He tweeted last night that he was “hopeful that the courts will order an extension.”
