On the last day to register to vote in Virginia, the entire voter register system went down after a cable was “accidentally” cut. Officials are reportedly blaming the outage on a severed cable, but have yet to provide details on how the exact cord needed for voter registration was damaged. Via WUSA9:
The Virginia Information Technology Agency tweeted that a fiber cut near Route 10 in Chester, Virginia is to blame.
“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 Virginia Department of Elections posted on their registration website.
Given the suspicious timing of the “accidental” cord-cutting, and the fact that 2020 has been one ordeal after another, people aren’t buying the official story. As of this writing, “accidentally” is trending on Twitter with over 100,000 tweets as folks share their skepticism and concerns about voter suppression.
Hearing reports that voting machines were accidentally placed atop greased flagpoles surrounded by pits of cobras, here's what we know so far, you absolutely cannot outrun a cobra https://t.co/sVmkXj4fAq
— edburmila.bsky.social (@edburmila) October 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/4everNeverTrump/status/1316048894774583297
My parents accidentally cut the cord to my PlayStation when I was 14 https://t.co/QMAIxRdmji
— alex medina (@mrmedina) October 13, 2020
ACCIDENTALLY GO FUCK YOURSELF
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) October 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/LynnSharig8/status/1316038675138973696
As an authority on the matter, I can confidently state that this cable was not cut "accidentally". https://t.co/wKYSouZhef
— accidentally based (@BasedByAccident) October 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/Vanessa_ABee/status/1316028780167733248
Virginia, COME ON.
"An accidentally cut cable has caused the entire Virginia voter registration online system to go down on the last day to register to vote before election day."
Get it back up & running & extend your voter registration deadline ASAP. https://t.co/Jqu2WawjlK
— Kyle Lierman (@Kyle_Lierman) October 13, 2020
However, if the cut cable is part of a deliberate voter suppression scheme, it looks like the plot could be thwarted by Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, who is calling for today’s voter registration deadline to be extended due to the server outage.
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.
We will work with the Administration to resolve this issue and ensure all voters have access to #Vote. https://t.co/PKt3vKoOnu
— Justin Fairfax (@LGJustinFairfax) October 13, 2020
The incident in Virginia echoes a recent event in Louisiana that highlights the inherent flaws in a digital voting system. In the case of Louisiana, the Secretary of State failed to notice that “routine maintenance” was scheduled on National Voter Registration Day. According to The Advocate, the maintenance knocked out the system from 8PM to 11:30PM and raised criticisms from local politicians that the mishap was a deliberate attempt to suppress registration of new Democratic voters. While the Secretary of State did not acknowledge those claims, he apologized and took full responsibility for the “unfortunate error” as voter registration continued on schedule.
(Via WUSA9 & The Advocate)