i was supposed to go grocery shopping today. i grand grabbed a few things and paid cash for it. >> reporter: s.n.a.p. is administered by the u.s. department of agriculture. many of those speculated that the crash had something to do with the partial government shutdown. but the state officials say that wasn't the case. xerox says a computer crash knocked the system offline. in a statement to cnn, they said beneficiaries who required immediate access to their benefits could work with their local merchants. the only problem, the emergency voucher was not available at all vendors. >> the system is down. we're sorry for the inconvenience and we do not know when it's going to come back up. >> reporter: the issue was resolved by late saturday night. but still today many wonder why the food stamp contractor would test its systems on the weekend when many hit the grocery store