NORFOLK, Va. - Additional unprocessed voter registration were discovered over the weekend sending registrars across the state scrambling to process them before Election Day.
"It's very concerning they just found these applications now," said Virginia Beach Voter Registrar Christine Lewis, who says her office has to process 6,500 new applications this week.
"I want to get out ahead of this because it puts a lot of pressure on the office the week before the election," said Lewis.
The issue is related to a technological glitch that held up 107,000 DMV records from being processed, according to the Dept. of Elections. Earlier this month, the Commissioner of the Dept. of Elections said the issue was "resolved."
On Monday, the Dept. said there were an additional 149,000 records to be processed.
"With information from local officials, ELECT’s IT professionals were able to scour the election system data to identify the additional transactions for processing. I’m pleased that all affected voters are able to vote and that anyone with questions or concerns can reach out to us directly so that we may assist them as we near Election Day," Commissioner Susan Beals said in a statement.
In Norfolk, Voter Registrar Stephanie Iles says they have an additional 3,400 applications to process.
"We are busy processing these transactions and appreciate the patience of the public. We have approved overtime again for our staff to complete these in time for Election Day," Iles said in an email to News 3 Monday morning.
Iles says this is impacting people who completed their registration at the Dept. of Motor Vehicles from a May to October timeframe. If someone is impacted, they would be able to complete a same day registration application and vote by provisional ballot, she said.
News 3 also reached out to Gov. Youngkin for comment. A spokesperson said released a statement saying, "These issues with DMV voter registrations are not new, and the department is moving forward to replace our voter registration system to prevent future issues. General registrars are processing these records as soon as possible and anyone with questions or concerns can reach out to the Department of Elections directly so that they can vote in the coming days."
Dr. Jesse Richman, a political science professor at Old Dominion University, said provisional ballots through same day registration will still allow people to vote, but could create more work for registrars if a lot of people have to do it.
"If [a race] is extremely close and some of these election administration problems are complicating the count, that's not going to do anybody any good in terms of getting public confidence in the election to be where one would hope it would be," Richman said.
To make sure your voter registration information is up-to-date, click here.
