Nevada online voter registration glitch could cause delay
Several hundred Nevadans who registered to vote through the Secretary of State’s online system Tuesday may not have received confirmation of their registration status. A record number of users, 3,221, accessed registertovotenv.gov on October 2, surpassing the 3,000-person daily cap set by the system.
In a news release, Secretary of State Ross Miller said Nevadans will still be able to vote in the November 6 election, but they may not receive confirmation of their registered status until the system clears the list. He advises those who have not registered to not procrastinate before the October 6 deadline.
On Tuesday, 1,954 residents registered for the first time and 1,267 residents updated their address or party affiliation. Approximately 605,000 Nevadans are eligible but unregistered to vote.
“Regageddon is upon us, so register now before the October 6 deadline to avoid crashing the system,” said Miller in the news release. “An overloaded system won’t be able to provide that immediate confirmation, and will put the application in a temporary pending status. I want to be clear that the temporary status won’t ultimately affect the timeliness of your registration, and you will still be eligible to vote in the November 6 election, but it will affect your ability to confirm your registration immediately, and we want to avoid that confusion.”
Online voter registration functions by retrieving the signature that is on file with the DMV to complete the registration application. The system to retrieve the signatures caps the total number of new registrations at 3,000 per day. If the total number of new registrants exceeds that cap, the voter application is placed into pending status awaiting confirmation that a proper signature from DMV is on file. The deadline for online registration is midnight, October 6. Voters who completed an online application after the 3,000-person daily cap has been reached will be temporarily placed into pending status awaiting final confirmation of their signature on file with the DMV
“Register now, and don’t procrastinate,” said Miller. “If you wait until the final minutes before the 11:59 p.m. deadline on October 6, we will not be able to immediately confirm your eligibility for the November 6 election.”
Since online registration began in Clark County on August 31, 2010, there have been more than 50,000 registrations total, of which close to 34,000 are new registrations. Online registration has been available to all 17 Nevada counties since September 2012.
Registration online at www.registertovotenv.gov is fast and simple. Eligible Nevadans only need a Nevada Driver’s License or DMV issue ID, and their Social Security Number. The deadline for in-person registration at your county registrar’s office is October 16.