UK extends voter registration deadline after website glitch

UK today announced an extension of the voter registration deadline for the European Union referendum until midnight tomorrow after thousands of first time voters failed to register due to a technical glitch in the registration website.
UK Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock confirmed that the government will legislate to extend the cut-off date, which was earlier June 7.
Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron had exhorted voters to keep trying to register to vote in the June 23 referendum despite the official website having crashed.
The deadline for registrations was to close yesterday but many potential voters were unable to register due to an online glitch, blamed on record demand.

The UK's Electoral Commission called for legislation to extend the deadline and the UK government plans to rush through such an urgent legislation later tonight to ensure last-minute registrations yesterday and today can also be counted.
"I'm very clear that people should continue to register today. The Electoral Commission made a statement today urging the government to consider options including extending the deadline.

"We're working urgently with them to do just that and to make sure those who registered today and who registered last night will be able to vote in the EU referendum," Cameron told the House of Commons during his weekly Prime Minister's Questions.

"It's extremely welcome that so many people want to take part in this massive democratic exercise. Last night there was record demand on the registration website. This caused an overload on the system," he said.
Users had reported a page displaying the message "504 Gateway Time-out" instead of the online registration form.
"Those registrations will be captured by the system - then we have the legal question about whether captured applications can be eligible for the 23 June," Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock told Parliament.
In a statement, the Electoral Commission said it was "vital" that everyone who wants to vote on June 23 is able to do so.

It said: "There will be many people who wanted to register to vote last night and were not able to. The registration deadline is set out in legislation and we have said to the government this morning they should consider options for introducing legislation as soon as possible that would extend the deadline. We would support such a change."
The commission said 226,000 applications to register were received on Monday, the second highest single day's total since electronic registration was introduced in 2014.
More than 45,000 people in the space of less than an hour signed an online petition calling for the extension of the registration deadline.

Bex Hay, of petition organiser 38 Degrees, said: "The fact that 15 people per second are signing this petition proves the level of public concern at the prospect of thousands of people losing their vote unfairly."
The deadline for any new or first-time voters to register was set as June 7.
However, most voters already on the electoral rolls have been issued their official polling cards.
Those eligible to cast a vote include British or Irish citizens living in the UK who are 18 or over and citizens of Commonwealth countries who are 18 or over and who can stay in the UK.

Anyone living in the UK who registered to vote ahead of the 2015 General Election or last month's local elections in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland did not need to re-register as long as their address remained unchanged.
Levels of turnout is likely to be crucial to the outcome of the referendum, with both sides trying to mobilise their supporters and to warn people of the consequences of staying at home on the big day.