Massive Texas backlog of voter registrations that scrambled workers has been cleared, state says

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A massive backlog of voter registration applications in Texas that frustrated counties and raised concerns among Democrats nationally has been cleared days before early voting begins, state election officials said Thursday.

The backlog, which state officials attributed to a software glitch, left counties big and small scrambling to process scores of voter registrations late in an unusually competitive midterm election season in Texas. Early voting in the state begins Monday.

State officials have not said how many applications were delayed but the number was in the hundreds of thousands, including over 75,000 in Harris County, which includes Houston and finished its backlog earlier this month.

“With our size, that was a big win for our county,” said Harris County Tax Assessor and Voter Registrar Annette Ramirez, who oversees the county's elections.

The problem, which officials in the Republican-controlled state have not publicly defined, started last October in the Texas Department of Public Safety, which among other things allows people to register to vote or update their voter registrations when they renew their driver’s license.

The error failed to send a large number of records to applicants’ home counties, where the applications are processed and verified. Those records could be a new voter registration application or an update to an existing registration, such as a change of address.

DPS had previously said certain records submitted online “were incomplete and not fully transmitted.” The department did not immediately respond to an email seeking further explanation Thursday.

Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for the Texas Secretary of State, said they were not aware of any county with pending applications. Her office has said that any person can still cast a provisional ballot if they show up to a polling place and are not on the voter rolls.

The League of Women Voters and the Texas Civic Fund, a civil rights group, filed a lawsuit that accused the state of not providing a reliable way for people to register to vote. California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee that oversees federal elections, sent Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a letter last month seeking answers on the scope of the failure and the causes.

Election offices hired temporary workers to handle the crush. In Austin, Travis County Tax Assessor Celia Israel said the backlog for her elections office was an “enhanced stress,” especially on top of seeing more voting applications coming in the last few weeks.

Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.