Hmmm …
I don’t know if you follow the news, but I mentioned that the deadline to register to vote in the EU Referendum was midnight on Tuesday: a couple of days ago, now.
Tuesday came and went: as did the deadline.
As did the news — yesterday — that the website had crashed, overloaded by people trying to register at the last minute.
Effectively, it was a jammed switchboard: there was more people trying to phone in, than phones for them to phone in on.
To remedy that?
The deadline’s been
extended: with support from both the Government, and from the Electoral Commission.
I tend to think that’s a good thing: the more people vote, the better.
I do know electoral law is a complicated thing: and that legal challenges, on the grounds of Gerrymandering are on-going.
I can’t help but think a couple of things.
Frankly, I think a lot of people could have registered for the referendum a LOT earlier than they did. That could well have saved a lot of trouble.
I’m ALSO think a couple of other things.
For starters, I think whoever runs the website for the government should maybe have foreseen this happening: and made provision to increase the bandwidth in anticipation of a last minute rush.
I’m also thinking this. There’s legal challenges already going ahead against the
extension.
I think the government, working with the relevant bodies, should modify UK law. I think we need to have something in place, before the next general elction or referendum, that allows a similar extension the next time something like this happens.
Technology being what it is, I’m sure this will happen again.
