Dick's Drive-In vote
Fans who want a burger and fries from a new Dick’s restaurant can help decide where it should be in an online vote. (Dick’s Drive-In Image)

Update: Dick’s announced on its Facebook page Tuesday morning that its website was back up and running, and that despite the trouble on Monday, more than 100,000 votes had been cast. The South is in the lead for a new Dick’s location, according to the Seattle chain.

Original story: Hungry burger lovers in the Seattle region — especially those to the east and south — crashed the website for Dick’s Drive-In on Monday trying to vote on where the beloved chain should put its next restaurant.

Dick’s announced that it was expanding from six locations to seven and leaving it to fans to decide where the next eatery will be.

The possible locations east of the city include Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Bothell, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Sammamish and Woodinville. Potential locations to the south include West Seattle, South Seattle, Renton, Burien, SeaTac, Tukwila, Kent, Auburn, Normandy Park, Des Moines and Federal Way.

In 2010, Dick’s held a similar vote and Edmonds, north of Seattle, became the new location. The new vote — accessible here — will be active for about three weeks.

Dick's Drive-In
Dick’s Drive-In in Seattle’s Crown Hill neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Around lunchtime Monday, the Dick’s Facebook page announced that all the “burger love” crashed the chain’s website. “Bear with us as we handle all the traffic. The site should be back up again shortly.”

Hundreds of people were commenting on the post, saying which location was their choice. And some said neither, pushing for locations to the west such as the Olympic Peninsula or way east beyond the Cascades out in Central Washington.

We were allowed to cast our vote from the GeekWire office, but access to other elements of the Dick’s site were down, including the press release announcing the news of the vote.

Dick’s was started by founder Dick Spady in 1954. There are currently five locations in Seattle — Wallingford, Capitol Hill, Crown Hill, Lower Queen Anne and Lake City.

The restaurant is a Seattle institution and small changes have crept in in recent years, including the acceptance of modern forms of payment after a long standing policy of cash only. The Queen Anne location even played host to a Snapchat Spectacles vending bot a few weeks ago, and fans trying to get their hands on the high-tech camera glasses formed a line around the restaurant as diners wondered what all the fuss was about.

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