With a little over a week to go before Election Day, a previously identified computer problem prompted the Virginia Department of Elections to send another 149,000 voting-related transactions to local registrars to process.
In early October, the department announced that intermittent computer network problems led to a backlog of voter registration applications. The network issue within the department led to a delay in processing about 107,000 voting-related transactions submitted through the Department of Motor Vehicles, including address updates, new registrations and other changes.
On Monday, elections officials said they have identified an additional 149,000 transactions that did not make it to the online voter registration system.
Voter registrations and updates completed at DMVs between May and September were supposed to get processed into the state’s registration system, then sent to the local election offices, but Virginia election officials say because of a technical problem with the state’s computer network, that never happened.
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The additional records have been sent to Virginia's 133 general registrars, “who are currently processing them as quickly as possible,” the Department of Elections said in a news release.
“We only got 300 of those on Saturday, but then we got a couple thousand more on Sunday,” Fairfax County Registrar Eric Spicer said. “Then this morning, the really large amount his. We have about 11,000 thousand, right now, just eight days before the election.”
“It’s a great challenge,” he said. “I’m sure my staff can meet it, but it will be difficult. It will be a lot of very late nights.”
“All affected voters have been able to vote,” the department said. “Any voter with information that needs to be updated can register and vote up to and including Election Day under Virginia’s same day voter registration law.”
“Worst case, when you show up at a polling place, if you find that you are not on the registered voter list, you can complete a same-day registration application and do a provisional ballot,” Spicer said.
The department identified the additional transactions by conducting a review after several voters came to vote early, but had not had their information updated. In each case, the voter’s information was updated onsite by the general registrar, and the voter proceeded to vote.
The Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit tracker of elections and money in politics, first reported the issue in early October. The organization said it sought an explanation after noticing a dip in new monthly voter registrations starting in June.
“I’m pleased that all affected voters are able to vote and that anyone with questions or concerns can reach out to us directly so that we may assist them as we near Election Day,” Elections Commissioner Susan Beals said in the news release.
Earlier this month, voters in northern and southwest Virginia received notices directing them to incorrect polling locations. Beals said the department had determined that a mailing of 31,000 voter notices with incorrect polling place locations had gone out to voters in seven towns across Prince William and Fairfax counties.
