Conservatives blasted Pennsylvania Department of State The same day, former President Trump returned to Butler, where he survived an assassination attempt in July, to schedule a system maintenance update on his voter registration website this month.
The operation would have taken the site offline for several hours during the same time frame the Trump campaign expected to register voters. However, amid the initial uproar the department extended the deadline for maintenance till later in the night.
“The PA State Department voter registration website will be unavailable on Saturday, October 5, the day President Trump triumphantly returns to the site of the assassination attempt in Butler County, PA. With all eyes on PA, the site will be down. Coincidence?” GOP activist Scott Pressler Posted on Instagram on Thursday,
Fox News Digital reviewed archived data from the Pennsylvania voter registration website and found that it issued a disclaimer to voters that the website would be unavailable beginning at 6 p.m. on October 5.
“This website will undergo scheduled system maintenance and will be unavailable from 6PM to 12AM on Saturday, October 5. We thank you for your understanding.” The Pennsylvania voter registration website said Oct. 1, an archived page reviewed by Fox News Digital shows.
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Former President Trump is assisted by U.S. Secret Service personnel following a shooting during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. (Reuters/Brendan McDiarmid)
Trump announced on September 25 that he would make a historic return to Butler on October 5, months after he was shot in the side of the head by a would-be assassin on July 13. The Pennsylvania voter registration website announced its scheduled maintenance between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, archived data of the site reviewed by Fox Digital shows.
Republican National Committee co-chairs Lara Trump and Pressler sounded the alarm over the scheduled maintenance earlier this month, questioning the timing and calling the move election “interference.”
Lara Trump posted on Facebook, “Wow, they’re not even trying to hide their blatant interference – appreciate your flagging, @scottpresler – @gop is legal on this and formally called ‘system maintenance.’ The request has been moved to a different time.” On Thursday, Pressler followed up with a screenshot of an Instagram post asking if the timing of the maintenance was just a “coincidence.”
Archived records of the website show that Pennsylvania officials updated the page on October 3 – the same day Pressler and Lara Trump publicly posted about maintenance times – to reflect that the site would be undergoing maintenance at 10 p.m. to 4 am instead of 4 am. From 6 pm to midnight.
Trump was scheduled to take the stage in Butler on Saturday at 5 p.m., meaning the site would have been dark as he rallied his base and encouraged residents to register to vote.
Pressler is joined by Jack Posobiec of Human Events Regarding this issue last week, the time was changed at night after the rally while taking a victory lap, but he said he was still not “100 percent happy” with the timing of the scheduled maintenance. Pressler said website updates are typically scheduled for the end of the night, when users are less likely to be using the platform.
Former President Trump addresses the crowd at a rally on Saturday, October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he survived an assassination attempt on July 13. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
“It was clear that the Pennsylvania State Department was engage in election interferenceAll this national attention is trying to prevent that from translating into new voter registrations,” Pressler said.
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Lara Trump also celebrated how scheduled maintenance got moved to later in the night, sharing on Facebook on Thursday, “And just like that, we asked the PA to move it. When civil fairness demands A great example of what happens when we do.”
Eric and Lara Trump arrive on stage for former President Trump’s rally on Saturday, October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
Fox News Digital contacted the Pennsylvania Department of State on Sunday for comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive a response.
The website is down as of Sunday morning, and no longer includes a disclaimer for scheduled maintenance outages. Fox News Digital did not document the site being closed for maintenance from Saturday evening to Sunday morning, although screenshots of the site posted on social media show the site being down. Reported error page for maintenance,
A review of the State Department’s social media shows the website has previously been down for scheduled maintenance during the day. June 29th from 1 pm to 9 pm the next day,
People wave signs at former President Trump’s rally in Butler on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
Historic rally in Butler draws thousands as Trump A return to the same grounds where he was nearly killed, as well as brief remarks from tech billionaire Elon Musk who stressed the importance of registering to vote.
“I Think this is the most important election of our lifetime. This is not a normal election. The other party wants to snatch your freedom of speech. “They want to take away your right to bear arms… They want to effectively take away your right to vote,” Musk told the crowd Saturday.
Musk repeatedly encouraged the crowd to encourage everyone in their social circle and beyond to register and vote on Election Day.
A large crowd awaits the arrival of former President Trump in Butler on Saturday, October 5, 2024. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
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“And honestly, you just want to be a pest. Just want to be a pest to everybody. You know, there are people on the street everywhere,” he said.
“fight fight Fight, Vote, vote, vote,Trump shouted “fight, fight, fight” to the crowd after he was shot in the ear in July, Musk said.
