Governor extends Florida voter registration following website problems

Florida voters have more time to submit their voter registration applications following issues with the website Monday, Oct. 5.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee have extended the voter registration deadline to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6. Lee said in a press release the directive to extend the deadline came after speaking with DeSantis on the status of the online voter registration system, which endured issues due to unprecedented volume and traffic.

"We are working with local Supervisors of Elections and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to ensure that all eligible registrants have the ability submit a voter registration application by 7 p.m. this evening," Lee said. "During the last few hours, the RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov website was accessed by an unprecedented 1.1 million requests per hour. We will work with our state and federal law-enforcement partners to ensure this was not a deliberate act against the voting process."

The state assures voter registrants that any applications received on Florida’s online registration system on Oct. 6 will be included in the registration for the Nov. 3 general election. Additionally, any applications received through the following channels Oct. 6 also will be accepted: county Supervisors of Elections offices, local tax collector's offices, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles driver's license offices, and paper applications postmarked by Oct. 6, 2020.

DeSantis and Lee are working with these offices to discuss the availability of extending their office hours to further assist potential voter registrants.  

"If you are not registering to vote, we ask that you do your part for your fellow Floridians and please do not try to access RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov during this time and drive up traffic to the site," Lee said.

Questions can be directed to the Division of Elections' Voter Assistance Hotline at 1-866-308-6739.