Florida’s sec. of state issued directive to reopen the state’s voter registration window, and potential voters now have until 7pm ET to register. The decision comes hours after voters across the state encountered problems with the registration website.
Morin said she had problems since mid-afternoon. "If the website is down, that's not fair. A lot of people went on that website today because they didn't realize it was their last day to register," she said.
"I really hope they extend it."A voter exits the polling precinct after casting their ballot in Florida's primary election at Precinct 321 on Aug. 18, 2020 in Tampa, Fla. A voter exits the polling precinct after casting their ballot in Florida's primary election at Precinct 321 on Aug. 18, 2020 in Tampa, Fla. Carl Morelli, a 23-year old Gainesville resident looking to update his registration after moving to a new apartment in August, tried the website for the first time at 9:15 p.m. but was met with glitches after completing the first step. After more than two hours of switching internet browsers and even computers, he almost gave up. "It was getting down to the last 10 minutes and I was about ready to throw in the towel, but I said, 'Let me just give it a few more tries,'" he told ABC News."I was really happy and excited that I was going to be able to vote," he said.Kyle Redula, 20, a student at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, was eager to register to vote for the first time, only to find himself struggling for hours with the website Monday. As the deadline came and went, he was still receiving error messages. "It's definitely something that I was looking forward to," he told ABC News."Considering this is the Department of State website and it's been giving me problems, it's been frustrating."The issues with the website prompted angry responses on Twitter from Democrats in the state, among them Nikki Fried, Florida's commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, and Florida's lone statewide elected Democrat. "The voter registration deadline is just hours away, and the online voter registration website is broken," she wrote. Addressing Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, Fried called the situation"unacceptable" and urged him to"fix it."In a later post, Fried wrote that the developments Monday night amounted to"voter suppression" and called on Lee and DeSantis to extend the registration deadline. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the ACLU of Florida, and Campaign Legal Center sent a letter to the Department of State Monday night demanding the deadline be extended until midnight Tuesday. The letter, signed by Julie Houk of the Lawyers' Committee and addressed to the department's general counsel, suggested"other legal remedies" if their demand was not met. After the extension was announced Tuesday, a representative from Campaign Legal Center, asked by ABC News if the groups were planning to move forward in any capacity, said,"We are discussing with the legal team."
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