Virginia election: Severed cable shuts down online voter registration on final day

Officials go back to paper forms for signing people up for ballots

A man casts his ballot for the 2020 presidential election at an early voting location on 1 October in Alexandria, Virginia. (Getty Images)

A severed cable shut down Virginia’s online voter registration system on its final day of operation before the election.

Officials say that a “fibre cut” was preventing multiple agencies from connecting to the system, according to the the Virginia Department of Elections.

These included the citizen portal and registrar’s offices and officials say it is unclear when it would be back up and running again.

"Due to a network outage, the Citizen Portal is temporarily unavailable. We are working with our network providers to restore service as quickly as possible," the department said on its registration website.

Election officials in northern Virginia have gone back to using paper registration forms, according to the Washington Post.

The cut occurred in the area of Chester, Virginia, according to reports.

"Verizon technicians are on site and working to repair the cut; updates will be provided as work progresses,” said department spokesperson Andrea Gaines.

Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax has called for the voter registration deadline to be extended.

“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,” he said on Twitter.

"We will work with the Administration to resolve this issue and ensure all voters have access to vote."

Tuesday is the deadline for voter registration in Virginia, Washington DC and Maryland ahead of the 3 November general election.