More than half a million Britons made last-minute applications to vote in the upcoming “Brexit” referendum, crashing the government’s voter registration website and prompting politicians to call for an extension of the deadline.
An unprecedented surge of 525,000 people registered on Tuesday — the last possible day for people to submit their details in time to participate in the June 23 referendum on whether to leave the European Union.
That was more than seven times the number of people who had applied the previous Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Britain’s Cabinet Office acknowledged the “technical issues” Wednesday.
“We became aware of technical issues on gov.uk/register-to-vote late on Tuesday night due to unprecedented demand,” said a statement.
“Some people did manage to get through and their applications were processed. We tried to resolve the situation as quickly as was possible and to resolve cases where people tried to register but were not able to.”
Calls for extension
The technical failure prompted some politicians to call for an extension of the deadline, to allow all those who wished to vote to be able to do so.
Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party tweeted that if the site had crashed, then the deadline “has to be extended.”
Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, also tweeted his support for an extension. Both politicians are in favor of Britain remaining in the European Union.
The British government has not yet said whether it will agree to the extension.
Younger voters behind surge
The rival “Vote Leave” and “Vote Remain” campaigns have been neck-and-neck, with pundits saying the race is too close to call.
But those in the latter camp are likely to take encouragement from the last-day surge in registrations, which came disproportionately from younger voters who are widely seen as more in favor of remaining in the EU.
Government figures on voter registration showed that the largest group applying Tuesday (170,000) were aged 25-34, followed by under-25s (132,000).
The spike in advance of the cutoff began on Monday, when 226,000 people applied to vote.
Campaign ramps up
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who favors remaining in the EU, made a fresh appeal to voters this week.
A vote to leave would put a bomb under the British economy, he said, accusing “Brexit” campaigners of misleading the public.
“There’s a passionate debate taking place in our country, and we should be proud of the fact that this is an enormous exercise in democracy and an enormous exercise in sovereignty, but we must make this decision on the basis of facts and arguments,” Cameron told reporters Tuesday.
If Britain votes to leave the EU, the country will engage in two years of complex exit negotiations.
If Britain votes to remain, Cameron will have to make a reformed relationship with the EU work.