HOUSTON — Harris County election officials are processing about 75,000 voter registration records after the Texas Department of Public Safety failed to transmit hundreds of thousands of applications to county election offices because of a technical error.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office notified Harris County officials Tuesday that 108,000 voter registration records had remained backlogged and never reached the county, according to the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office.
DPS failed to transmit applications that voters submitted through its online driver’s license portal. State officials discovered the problem last week after DPS sent counties a large batch of voter registration records dating back to October.
The state provided the backlogged records to counties Tuesday evening.
Harris County officials removed thousands of duplicate records before processing about 75,000 registrations. The county said about 2,000 records required additional review.
“This situation has caused confusion for the public and has created serious operational challenges during an already busy period for our office,” Samantha Kealoha, chief of staff for the tax assessor-collector’s office, said.
Kealoha said county staff will process the additional records before early voting starts Oct. 19 while continuing their regular voter registration work.
“Our priority is to ensure that eligible voters who submitted their registration information on time are not disadvantaged by delays outside of their control,” she said.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office met with county leaders across the state earlier this week to discuss the problem.
Alicia Pierce, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, said the backlog should not affect voters’ registration status. She said voters who submitted registration information through the DPS online system but do not appear on the voter rolls can still cast a provisional ballot.
The voter registration deadline for the November elections is Oct. 5. Early voting starts Oct. 19.
Harris County voters can check their registration status through the county’s online voter registration system.
The Harris County Clerk’s Office did not respond Thursday to a request for comment about whether the technical error could affect the county’s November election.
Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Terri Burke called on state officials to provide additional resources to county election offices as they process the backlog.
“In a state where only 61% of registered voters cast ballots in the 2024 general election, every legitimate voter should have confidence that the registration system will work when they use it,” Burke said.
