Web outage strikes official Pa. sites

Access to several online state services — including online voter registration — has been temporarily halted after state officials reported an ongoing outage Sunday.

In a news release, state officials say the outage started Saturday and is due to an equipment failure at a data center managed by Unisys for the state government and multiple state government agencies that include the Department of State.

Many of the Department of State’s election- related and professional licensing services are among the services impacted, according to the news release. Online services for the Department of Revenue and Human Services and the PA Liquor Control Board are also affected, the news release said.

On the voter registration application page at pavoter-services. org, users are sent to a page with a message that says the website is unavailable because of a system outage in part by “the Department of State’s ongoing commitment to optimize services.”

The message then says the application will be available once the system is restored. Secretary of Administration Michael Newsome said in a statement that the department is working “around the clock” with vendors to bring services back online.

Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said in the news release that the outage is due to an issue with the contractor’s equipment.

“There is no evidence of malicious interference,” Ms. Boockvar said.

A timeline of when exactly the online services will be up and running is not known at this time.