Nearly half a million register to vote after EU referendum extension

In total, 433,696 people registered to vote in the 48-hour extension granted for the upcoming 23 June EU referendum with 1.5m Briton’s registering last week.

The original deadline of midnight on Tuesday was extended after a glitch on the government’s website. It was reported that there was record demand from 22:15 until midnight when 50,711 people were on the site simultaneously.

As of 23:55 on that same day, 26,000 concurrent users were on the website and after the deadline had passed there were still 20,416 people on it.

Oliver Letwin, the cabinet minister, said the surge of applications experienced on Tuesday was “three times as intense a spike [as the one] that occurred before the general election”

MPs and the Electoral Commission urged for an extension and legislation was quickly passed through the houses of Commons and Lords without a vote on Wednesday which extended voter registration till midnight on Thursday.

Not all of the people who registered during the extension were new voters; some were checking that they had correctly registered. The extension was not covered in Northern Ireland as the online system was not in use there.

The extension was controversial as some MPs and leave campaigners objected. Arron Banks Leave.EU founder and insurance millionaire said he was considering launching a legal challenge.

"We've got lawyers that are looking at [the extension] at the moment. They are tending to say it's unconstitutional because once you've set the rules you can't really change it halfway through, and Parliament really shouldn't be doing this," Banks told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Conservative MP Sir Gerald Howarth, who has declared for the Leave camp, said: "People have had months and months in which to register and ... if they left it to the last minute and all tried to register yesterday, that's their fault.

"We should not change our regulations in the middle of a very important referendum campaign simply to suit those who haven't organised their personal affairs well enough to secure their registration in good time."

The proportion of younger voters was very high in the week before the original deadline, as 77% were under 45 years old. Younger voters are considered to be more pro-EU, therefore many on the Leave side saw the extension as disingenuous and biased towards the Remain side.

People are still able to apply to vote by proxy by completing a separate application form, which needs to be returned by 17:00 on 15 June.