Cut cable shuts down Virginia’s online voter registration system on the last day to register for the general election

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A severed fiber optic cable that shut down Virginia’s online voter registration system has prompted a lawsuit from a civil rights organization. Tuesday was the deadline to register to vote in Virginia before Election Day. The Virginia Department of Elections said Tuesday in a statement on Twitter that a cut cable was affecting connectivity for multiple agencies, including the citizen portal and registrar’s offices. The state’s IT agency tweeted that the cable was inadvertently cut during a Chesterfield County roadside utilities project. Six hours later, the portal was back online. But the fallout led to concerns that voters were being disenfranchised at a crucial moment.