Statewide Voter Registration System Crashes

The system used to confirm if a voter is registered went down on Friday morning as a result of technical difficulties with government servers. The system didn’t go back up until around noon.

State Department of Administration spokesman Jim Dick said in a statement that a hardware problem slowed the network to the point where it couldn’t communicate with agencies.

Government Accountability Board attorney Mike Haas said election clerks couldn’t access the voter registration system, preventing them from issuing absentee ballots and printing poll books. Haas also said the board heard from a number of people who couldn’t get state photo identification to vote in Tuesday’s primary because the malfunction affected Department of Transportation offices.

“It’s another reminder of how much we rely on technology to administer elections in Wisconsin,” said Haas.

Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki said many Milwaukee voters experienced delays at a time when voter turnout has been soaring.

Friday is the last day for early voting before Tuesday’s primary.