Britain will extend the voter registration period for its June 23 referendum on EU membership by 48 hours after a late surge in applications crashed a key website shortly before the Tuesday night deadline.
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.
Turnout is expected to be important in determining the outcome of the close-fought referendum, with young people considered to be more pro-EU but also less likely to vote. More than half of those who registered on Tuesday were under 34.
Some pollsters and analysts expect a high turnout to favor an "In" vote.
Matt Hancock, a minister in the government department responsible for registration, said on Wednesday the government would legislate to extend the deadline.
"We think it is right to extend to midnight tomorrow (Thursday) to allow people who have not yet registered time to get the message that registration is still open and get themselves registered," he said in a statement.
Hancock said on Twitter that the legislation, which opposition parties earlier had said they would support, would be brought to parliament on Thursday.
By: Kylie Maclellan (Reuters, London).
Photo: The Guardian.
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