{"id":447990,"date":"2026-09-26T01:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/447990\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T01:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:30:08","slug":"texas-delayed-voter-applications-highlight-registration-woes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/447990\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas\u2019 delayed voter applications highlight registration woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This coverage is made possible through Votebeat<\/a>, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Texas\u2019 free newsletters here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Texas\u2019 backlog of at least 200,000 voter registration applications and updates, which election officials must now process in the weeks before the critical midterm elections due to state error, is highlighting just how difficult it can be to register to vote in Texas<\/a>, voting rights experts said.<\/p>\n

Texas is one of just eight states<\/a> that doesn\u2019t have universal online voter registration and it severely restricts voter registration efforts. Texans with driver\u2019s licenses can use the state Department of Public Safety\u2019s web portal to register to vote or update their voter registration. But that\u2019s the only online option for registration \u2014 and it was ordered by a judge after a six-year long legal battle<\/a>. More than 6 million voters have used the portal since it launched in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Votebeat and the Texas Tribune reported an untimely flaw in that system earlier this week<\/a>: DPS failed to send counties thousands of voter registration applications and updates submitted through that web portal, dating back to October 2025. The agency blamed the error on a software update. The problem has sparked bipartisan calls for an investigation into what went wrong, and state officials so far have provided few details.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a system that has been designed to make things harder for voters,\u201d said Sarah Chen, the senior supervising attorney at Texas Civil Rights Project. \u201cWe don\u2019t have online voter registration, except for this teeny little carveout, and because of the teeny little carveout, now we have these technical glitches resulting in this backlog.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of the backlog of\u00a0 unprocessed applications, county election officials will also have to process hundreds of applications submitted in person and mailed in between now and Oct. 5, the voter registration deadline. Officials have promised every record will be processed, but advocates such as Chen are worried some voters could be disenfranchised if they aren\u2019t added to the rolls in time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Texas Secretary of State\u2019s Office told counties it would offer grants<\/a> to reimburse \u201ccosts incurred above your routine operational expenses related specifically to the increased number of DPS voter registration applications,\u201d though it isn\u2019t clear how much money is available or where the funds come from.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some local election officials say they had noticed a slowdown in the flow of applications from DPS and flagged it to the Texas Secretary of State\u2019s Office over the summer but weren\u2019t sure of the cause. Trudy Hancock, the elections administrator in Brazos County, said her staff noticed they\u2019d receive a handful of applications through the state system one day, none for a couple of days and then several the next.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t make sense, Hancock said, \u201cespecially those days when we wouldn\u2019t get any applications. Our local DPS office has a line of people out the door every day, so how come there were days where we weren\u2019t getting any applications from DPS?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Texas Secretary of State\u2019s Office did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Affected voters \u2018did everything right\u2019<\/p>\n

When asked whether he was concerned about the error or whether he had offered DPS specific direction on how to handle it, Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>\u2019s office referred questions to the agency and the Texas Secretary of State\u2019s Office. At a press conference Thursday<\/a>, he said DPS had told his office the issue was \u201cfully resolved.\u201d He also said county election officials were already working to process the applications.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement Thursday night, DPS said it proactively noticed the problem, investigated and found that the issue was connected to an October 2025 software update by \u201ca third-party vendor, whose software handles these batch transactions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emily French, Texas Policy Director at Common Cause, said the state should find a way to reach out to all impacted voters, especially since several statewide races on the Nov. 3 ballot are expected to be close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat should be step one,\u201d French said. \u201cTell every affected voter you\u2019re eligible, you did everything right. You will be registered to vote \u2014 tell every affected voter they can vote a provisional ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

State officials said voters who don\u2019t appear on the rolls because of this error can still ask to cast a provisional ballot, and election officials will count it once they confirm the voter had registered via DPS by the appropriate deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there are concerns that having to fill out a provisional ballot unexpectedly will cause confusion at polls, which members of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus highlighted in a Friday<\/a> letter to Abbott.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State senators sent the governor a list of questions, including \u201cWhat safeguards failed?\u201d and \u201cWhat support will the state provide to counties?\u201d They also want to know how many of the applications and updates that languished were submitted before the March primary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State Rep. Mihaela Plesa<\/a>, a Democrat who sits on the House Elections Committee, said she\u2019s going to push for tighter protocols in the upcoming legislative session to ensure that future errors are caught earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be looking at ways to require fast alerts and repairs,\u201d Plesa said. \u201cNotify the secretary of state of any affected county, notify applicants about what\u2019s going on, and definitely protect the voters\u2019 original submission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson<\/a> of Texas and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla<\/a> of California, both Democrats, have also called for investigations. So have key Texas Republicans, including state Sen. Paul Bettencourt<\/a>, who has championed legislation on election administration and voter list maintenance for years, and state Rep. Matt Shaheen<\/a>, the chair of the Texas House Elections Committee.<\/p>\n

Shaheen said he has spoken with DPS officials and is investigating what exactly went wrong to ensure it does not happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to personally make sure whoever is responsible for the mistake is held accountable,\u201d he said. But Shaheen said the problem is dissuading him from supporting online voter registration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Election officials cite ongoing technical challenges\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texans who submitted voter registration applications or updates via the DPS portal had no way of knowing something was wrong unless they checked their voter registration status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

County election officials who flagged an issue, including Hancock, told Votebeat they initially assumed the problem was related to issues with the state\u2019s voter registration and election management system, which is known as TEAM.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state in July 2025 overhauled its voter registration system<\/a> using Louisiana-based election technology vendor, Civix. Election officials have since raised ongoing concerns<\/a> about how the system works.<\/p>\n

Kristin Miles, the Bastrop County elections administrator and current president of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, told Votebeat the way TEAM works is making it harder for officials to get through the backlog of voter registration records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For instance, TEAM only allows county officials to see 30 records at a time on their screen, and they have to be sorted\u00a0 through one by one, before officials can see additional records. Miles and her staff of four are working through more than 2,200 records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week the secretary of state\u2019s office told election officials they\u2019re trying to prioritize a fix for that issue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Natalia is based in Corpus Christi. Contact her at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Colleen DeGuzman is a reporter for the Texas Tribune. She is based in Houston. Contact her at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Common Cause has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune within the past five years. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t