Nikki Fried calls on Governor to extend voter registration deadline after technical woes

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on Tuesday called for an extension to Florida’s voter registration deadline after technical woes may have prevented Floridians from registering late Monday.

In a letter sent to the Governor and Secretary of State Laurel Lee, Fried said the state’s registration website was  “down for several hours” and left Floridians unable to register hours before the midnight deadline.

She described 11th hour failure as “unacceptable.”

“This is about constitutional freedoms, not about politics — it’s about the fundamental right of everyone who is eligible to register to vote, regardless of political party, to make their voice heard at the ballot box,” Fried said in the letter. “It is the State’s duty to ensure the website works as anticipated, to allow Floridians to exercise their constitutional rights. With hours taken away from the deadline due to errors, we have witnessed a potential violation of those rights.”

Minutes after the initial hiccups Monday evening, Lee  tweeted that the website was fully back online. But an hour later, the website was still showing errors as some people tried to connect to the RegistertoVoteFlorida.gov website.

Notably, this is not the first time the site has struggled to service Floridians. In October 2018, the site experienced difficulties the day before the registration deadline, and did so again in March following the presidential primary.

Fried, the lone statewide-elected Democrat, said the state should have had a back-up plan.

“The State should have a contingency plan in place for an error of this magnitude, which may have prevented thousands of Floridians from exercising their right to vote in the coming election,” she wrote. “The deadline exists for a reason — and it is the right of every person in Florida who chooses to register to vote, to do so up until that deadline.”

Lee, on Tuesday afternoon, announced the Department of State and Governor’s Office are “exploring options” to remedy those who tried to register to vote during Monday’s crash.