The Republican Party’s never-ending war on democracy continues in high gear as we approach the 2020 November Election Day. There have been some victories for Americans who believe that Americans should be allowed to vote. But there continues to be very suspicious, “accidental” acts of suppression taking place across the country. In Florida, for example, the online voter registration portal stopped working on the last day of registration, freezing out who knows how many people. Throughout California, Republican operatives have been setting up illegal fake mail ballot drop boxes. This is a criminal enterprise of possible voter suppression.
Then on Tuesday morning, the Virginia Department of Elections tweeted this distressing piece of voter suppression news: “This morning we were alerted by VITA that a fiber cut near the Commonwealth Enterprise Solutions Center was impacting data circuits and VPN connectivity for multiple agencies. This has affected the citizen portal along w/ registrar’s offices.”
Excuse me?
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According to WUSA 9, a CBS affiliate, an “accidentally cut cable” is the cause of Virginia’s online voter registration portal going dark on the final day of registration. The outages caused by this “accident” are affecting the entire state. According to the state’s cybersecurity company, Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA): “A fiber cut near Rt. 10 in Chester near the Commonwealth Enterprise Solutions Center (CESC) is impacting data circuits and virtual private network (VPN) connectivity for multiple Commonwealth agencies.”
The last update, that “technicians” were “on site” working to fix the problem, came around 9:30 AM EST. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has called for the deadline for registration to be extended beyond the Oct. 13 deadline, but the state’s board of elections has yet to make any announcements for rectifying the situation.
Virginia Democrats were able to get same-day voter registration through as law in the Old Dominion. But that will not take effect until October 1, 2022.
