'Accidentally' Cut Cable Wreaks Havoc on Final Day of Voter Registration
Virginia residents hoping to register to vote on the final day of voter registration for the November elections were out of luck Tuesday after the state’s online registration system went down due to what was described as an accident.
Anyone wanting to register online got this message on the state’s online portal: “Due to a network outage the Citizen Portal is temporarily unavailable.”
NEW >> Virginia voter registration system is DOWN for the entire state… on the final day to register.
Officials feared this would happen.
They told us over the system, called VERIS, is still “insufficiently reliable”
STORY:@WUSA9 #EarlyVoting @CBSNewshttps://t.co/kCop0GhmQG— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) October 13, 2020
Virginia election officials say *this* accidentally cut wire in Chesterfield County is likely why Virginia’s entire voter registration system is down…
On the final day to register to vote.@WUSA9 @CBSNews #VOTE https://t.co/J7axn996jQ
— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) October 13, 2020
The Virginia Information Technology Agency indicated on Twitter that a fiber cable cut near Route 10 in Chester, Virginia, was the cause.
“This morning the Department of Elections was alerted by the Virginia Information Technology Agency that a fiber cut near Rt. 10 in Chester near the Commonwealth Enterprise Solutions Center (CESC) was impacting data circuits and virtual private network (VPN) connectivity for multiple Commonwealth agencies,” Virginia Department of Elections spokeswoman Andrea Gaines said in a statement.
“This has affected the Department’s citizen portal along with local registrar’s offices across the Commonwealth. Technicians are on site and working to repair the cut; 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
Other state agencies were also affected, according to WTOP-TV.
DMV appointments affected by this outage will be rescheduled.
Prior to attending your DMV appointment, please check our social media for updates on service restoration. Thank you for your patience. https://t.co/QkQx4Ap3k1
— VirginiaDMV (@VirginiaDMV) October 13, 2020
No estimate of when the voter registration site would be back online was available early Tuesday afternoon.
Virginia voters still have the options of going to elections offices in person to register or sending their registration applications by mail.
Some on Twitter wondered about the timing of the service interruption.
Virginia’s voter registration system reportedly having problems on the last day to register to vote, with early voting in full swing https://t.co/e6npNCYZLI
— Graham Moomaw (@gmoomaw) October 13, 2020
PA also had an outage last week, definitely stinks and I hope someone is paying attention to this insanity.
— DogMom (@Tess20052020Mom) October 13, 2020
Cutting the internet cords to the Virginia Department of Elections on the last day of registrtion for the 2020 elections. Internet security is election security! Let’s make sure this does not happen in any other state leading up to the election day!
— Beth Flashner (@FlashnerB) October 13, 2020
Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax called for the registration deadline to be extended in light of the complication.
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
Fairfax County elections director Gary Scott said early voting is able to take place using backup poll books, but other processes have been halted by the outage.
“Unfortunately, I’ve got 300 staff sitting around here waiting to mail out absentee ballots and process registration applications who really can’t do anything,” he said. “Everything else has come to a stop.”
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