Texas counties race to clear voter registration backlog before midterm voting

County election offices across Texas are working to process a large backlog of voter registration applications caused by a state system error, with early in-person voting set to begin Oct. 19.

The problem began last October at the Texas Department of Public Safety, which allows residents to register to vote or update their registrations while renewing a driver’s license. The department said some records submitted online were incomplete and not fully transmitted to the secretary of state’s office. Those records therefore did not reach applicants’ home counties for processing and verification.

The Texas Association of County Election Officials said the statewide backlog has not been determined, but it reaches tens of thousands of applications in some populous counties. Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, received about 45,000 delayed applications, and some counties may need to hire temporary workers to complete the processing.

Local officials said they were not informed about the issue for nearly a year and warned that some applications intended for the March primary may never have been processed. The secretary of state’s office alerted election officials to the problem last week, according to The Hill.

The Department of Public Safety said the system issue has been resolved but did not publicly explain its precise cause. The delayed records include both new voter registrations and updates to existing registrations, such as address changes.