British citizens who were waiting until the last minute to register to vote ahead of the June 23 Brexit referendum regarding the U.K.’s membership in the European Union will have an additional 48 hours to do so, thanks to the government’s official registration website crash on Tuesday evening, Reuters reported Wednesday.
“More than a million potential voters applied to register online over the last week, half of them on the final day, the government said, with a peak of more than 200,000 per hour ahead of the previous deadline of midnight (7 p.m. ET) on Tuesday,” the news wire reported.
While moving the deadline requires an act of Parliament, a government official told Reuters that he was confident that would happen.
“We think it is right to extend to midnight [Thursday] to allow people who have not yet registered time to get the message that registration is still open and get themselves registered,” said Matt Hancock, Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Reuters reported that Mr. Hancock expects a parliamentary vote on the deadline extension Thursday.
Mr. Hancock, who also serves as an MP for West Suffolk, personally favors a “remain” vote on the Brexit question.
“We are fighters, not quitters. Let’s Remain and build a brighter future, not put all that at risk,” Mr. Hancock tweeted Tuesday.
Retroactively moving the registration deadline does have its detractors.
“Any idea of rewriting the rules in a substantial way would be complete madness and make this country look like an absolute shambles,” pro-Brexit Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin reportedly complained to Mr. Hancock in an exchange on the floor of the Commons. “Will he bear these things in mind or risk judicial review of the result?”
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