Nearly 28,000 Virginians Register to Vote After Deadline Extended

The Virginia Department of Elections announced Saturday that nearly 28,000 applied online to register to vote following a judge’s order Thursday to extend the deadline due to the computer system crashing earlier in the week. The final number of applications submitted during the extended registration period will be higher when in-person and mailed voter registration applications are processed in the coming days, the elections office said.

A federal judge extended the deadline Thursday through Friday. As of the 11:59 p.m. deadline for online registration, 27,952 voter registration applications were submitted since the court order. In-person registrations were accepted at local general registrars’ offices and designated state agencies, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of Social Services. Citizens also could register via mail, which had to be postmarked on or before Oct. 21.

“As the last 36 hours shows, we have had an overwhelming demand from voters this year to register to

vote or to update their registration status, and we are dedicated to ensuring that every eligible Virginian
has the opportunity to participate in the November election,” said Edgardo Cortés, Department of Elections
commissioner.

“This is the first presidential election in which voters have been able to register or update their records online, and at times our technology has had a difficult time keeping up with this unprecedented demand," he said. "However, I am confident that the steps we have taken to improve the system for our voters and our dedicated local registrars will result in a positive experience for voters on November 8.”

The department said it has made important functionality improvements to the statewide voter registration
system, VERIS, to help it keep up with the heavy demand from voters. The department added additional memory capacity to the primary server, added a secondary database server for information such as polling
locations to ease the demand on VERIS, made other performance improvements and added a custom
error page that provided voters information on other ways to register or update their records.

Virginians can check their voter registration status, find their polling location, check what is on their
ballot, and apply for an absentee ballot on the Department’s Citizen Portal at vote.virginia.gov. Newly registered voters should allow several days after submitting a registration application for the status to appear on the portal, the department advised.

Absentee voting is underway across Virginia for those who can't make it on Election Day, Nov. 8. Visit your local registrar's Web site to find out more.