Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has extended the state’s voter registration deadline after the online registration system crashed on Monday, the last day to register to vote in the November General Election.
The crash may have stopped thousands of people from registering to vote.
Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee said she had issued the directed to Gov. DeSantis to re-open Florida’s voter registration deadline.
Applications can now be submitted online and in-person up to 7:00 p.m. today.
“This morning I met with Governor DeSantis to brief him on the status of the online voter registration system and the difficulties we encountered last night due to unprecedented volume and traffic to our website. We are working with local Supervisors of Elections and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to ensure that all eligible registrants have the ability submit a voter registration application by 7:00 p.m. this evening,” said Secretary Lee.
“During the last few hours, the RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov website was accessed by an unprecedented 1.1 million requests per hour. We will work with our state and federal law-enforcement partners to ensure this was not a deliberate act against the voting process,” she said.
The website had sparked outrage among prospective voters in the state, with many residents accusing the Governor and other republicans of voter suppression.
Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Nikki Fried were among those residents that had called for an extension of the deadline.
Not planning for a voter registration surge is voter suppression.
Not ensuring everyone who wants to register can do so is voter suppression.
Not extending the deadline is voter suppression.@GovRonDeSantis & @FLSecofState, you must extend the deadline.https://t.co/AjJul6VZhV
— Nikki Fried (@nikkifried) October 6, 2020
Potential voter registrants should know that any applications received on Florida’s Online Voter Registration system today, October 6, 2020, will be included in the registration for the November 3, 2020, General Election. Additionally, any applications received through the following channels TODAY will also be accepted:
- County Supervisors of Elections Offices
- Local Tax Collector’s Offices
- Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Driver’s License Offices
- Paper applications postmarked by today, October 6, 2020
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