A federal court has extended Virginia’s voter registration deadline after an accidentally clipped fiber optic cable took down the Department of Elections website on Tuesday for hours on the final day of voter registration.
Voters in Virginia will now be able to register until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, in person or online.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said a cable was cut during roadside work on a utilities project, knocking out of most of the state government’s Internet service on Tuesday. The service was restored several hours later.
A coalition of groups, led by the New Virginia Majority Education Fund, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Richmond to extend the deadline. The groups argued that minority and younger voters would be disproportionately affected because they tend to register at higher rates in the final days before the deadline.
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