Florida has extended the deadline to register to vote to 7 p.m. tonight after its website crashed hours before the deadline.
It comes after the state website crashed Monday night as the deadline to register to vote in the presidential election loomed. The state said its website - RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov - got more than a million visits per hour as the deadline approached.
The state is investigating if it was a “deliberate act against the voting process.”
“During the last few hours, the RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov website was accessed by an unprecedented 1.1 million requests per hour," said Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee in a statement. "We will work with our state and federal law-enforcement partners to ensure this was not a deliberate act against the voting process.”
The Florida Department of State says voters can register online at register to vote online at RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov until 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 6. Voters can also register in person at a supervisor of elections, a tax collector’s office or at a driver’s license office.
“We really think it’s important that there also be live people that can help, and that it’s not just internet or nothing," said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "You can have the best site in the world, sometimes there’s hiccups on it. This way people even when they get off work, they’ll have until 7 o’clock to do that.”
Osceola County Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane Arrington said Monday was the busiest day her office has had since election day - they had a line down the sidewalk. She said the extension was unexpected.
“Our concern is people who called this morning and we told them they missed the deadline, they called first thing," Arrington said. "We’re trying to get the message out through social media, our website, any way we can.”
Voters can also mail in the registration - as long as it is postmarked October 6.
