Virginia's online voter registration shuts down on deadline after fiber optic cable is severed


Virginia's citizen portal and registrar's offices shut down Tuesday, the final day to register to vote before the November election, following a fiber optic cable cut that shut down other government agency sites, as well.
Local news station WUSA9 described the cut as accidental, and a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Elections said "Verizon technicians are on site and working to to repair" the severed cable. Still, the incident could affect thousands of Virginia voters, The Washington Post reports. Judy Brown, the general registrar in Virginia's Loudoun County, told the Post "we have no idea what's happening" and the disruption reportedly forced her office to manually confirm the registration status of county voters who cast early ballots Tuesday.
Virginia Beach officials have reportedly had trouble processing early ballots because of the cut. Apparently, per the Post, very few voters accepted an offer to instead fill out provisional ballots, which are typically counted last in an election, choosing to wait for the system to come back. "It's affecting everyone," said Christine Lewis, Virginia Beach's deputy registrar for elections. "Just because one wire got cut." Read more at The Associated Press and The Washington Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
5 hilariously cutting cartoons about the Department of Education
Cartoons Artists take on being rotten to the core, budget cuts, and more
-
Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) recipe
The Week Recommends German dish is fresh, creamy and an ideal summer meal
-
Sickness benefits: an unaffordable burden?
Talking Point A welfare bill 'debacle' caused by 'sickfluencers' who are beating the system
-
President diagnosed with 'chronic venous insufficiency'
Speed Read The vein disorder has given Trump swollen ankles and visible bruising on his hands
-
'Bawdy' Trump letter supercharges Epstein scandal
Speed Read The Wall Street Journal published details of Trump's alleged birthday letter to Epstein
-
Fed chair Powell in Trump's firing line
Speed Read The president considers removing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
-
Trump trashes supporters over Epstein files
speed read The president lashed out on social media following criticism of his administration's Jeffrey Epstein investigation
-
Judge nixes wiping medical debt from credit checks
Speed Read Medical debt can now be included in credit reports
-
Grijalva wins Democratic special primary for Arizona
Speed Read She will go up against Republican nominee Daniel Butierez to fill the US House seat her father held until his death earlier this year
-
US inflation jumps as Trump tariffs 'bite'
Speed Read Consumer prices are climbing and the inflation rate rose to its highest level in four months
-
SCOTUS greenlights mass DOE firings
Speed Read The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to further shrink the Education Department