The final 7,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's emails won't be released until after the early states vote

Final pages of Clinton emails to be released after voting. — (Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

The State Department announced late Thursday evening that it will only be releasing 2,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's private emails from her tenure as secretary of state on Friday — leaving the remaining 7,000 to be published after voters in the first four primary states have already gone to the polls. The department says it "regrets" the fact that it won't be able to publish the 7,000 pages on Friday as initially planned and blamed the delay on the snowstorm last weekend and an "internal oversight," The Hill reports. Apparently, the department "missed" sending the final pages of emails to other agencies that were cross-checking the emails and only noticed the mistake earlier this month.

“[I]f the Court allows State to delay release of thousands of pages of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's official work emails, a substantial portion of the electorate will be forced to vote without the benefit of important information to which it is entitled about the performance of one of the candidates for U.S. president while serving as secretary of state,” lawyers opposing the delay said.

The State Department says that "upcoming electoral events, while admittedly important to the public, do not change the fact that State needs this reasonable amount of additional time to complete the final state of this enormous and complex undertaking." The new deadline for the final emails' release is Feb. 29, though The Hill reports that the State Department still has yet to send out documents to 12 agencies for review.