A cable accidentally cut in Virginia may prevent thousands of voters from registering to vote on the last day possible before the election.
In an announcement on Tuesday morning, the state’s Department of Elections said that technicians are working to bring back Virginia’s online voter registration system after a fiber wire was cut near Route 10 in Chester, Virginia. There was no indication that the problem would be resolved the same day.
“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 reads. “Technicians are on site and working to repair; updates will be provided as work progresses.”
Technicians are on site and working to repair; updates will be provided as work progresses.
— VA Dept of Elections (@vaELECT) October 13, 2020
Update: Technicians are on site working to repair a damaged cable. VITA says they will provide updates on progress.https://t.co/aXmFInikeL https://t.co/odtUI3Wjnh
— VPM (@myVPM) October 13, 2020
A Verizon spokesperson also said that a “roadside utilities project crew severed fiber cables in Chesterfield that serve a data center managed by the Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA),” which led to the outage. Verizon said no crew belonging to the company was responsible.
In a statement, VITA said that there is “no estimated time of restoration is available as of noon.”
Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said the outage warranted a deadline extension for voter registration. “I am officially calling for Virginia’s Registration Deadline to be extended beyond today due to the service outages impacting voters’ ability to register statewide,” Fairfax tweeted. “We will work with the Administration to resolve this issue and ensure all voters have access to #Vote.”
I am officially calling for Virginia’s Registration Deadline to be extended beyond today due to the service outages impacting voters’ ability to register statewide.
We will work with the Administration to resolve this issue and ensure all voters have access to #Vote. https://t.co/PKt3vKoOnu
— Justin Fairfax (@LGJustinFairfax) October 13, 2020
Virginia voters may still register to vote by printing and filling out a paper application and mailing it in. They may also drop their paperwork off at an official registration office.
