AUSTIN, Texas — Texas election officials are working to process tens of thousands of voter registration applications delayed after the Department of Public Safety failed to transmit applications from its online driver services portal to county election offices, just weeks before the November midterm elections.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Elections Division confirmed the processing problem in an email Wednesday. The statewide number of delayed applications remains unclear, but several large counties reported tens of thousands of records that they had not received.
Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, received about 45,000 delayed applications, according to the Associated Press. Collin County reported more than 40,000 missing registrations, while Travis County had about 32,000.
Brazoria County reported more than 9,000 delayed applications, Hays County had about 8,100 and Cameron County had roughly 5,000, according to KXAN reporter Adam Schwager, who contacted 24 county election offices.
Counties work to clear backlog
County election officials said the unexpected workload could force some offices to hire temporary workers as they prepare for the November election.
“This is really out of left field,” Chris McGinn, executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, said at a news conference Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. “Knowing that this one element of (state) applications didn’t come through, and we had no insight on it.”
The delayed applications will begin moving from DPS to county voter registration systems statewide this week, according to Votebeat.
Texas officials said voters who submit their registration applications before the Oct. 5 deadline will remain eligible to vote even if additional DPS delays occur.
“A voter who registered through DPS online services but does not appear on the rolls can cast a provisional ballot,” Alicia Pierce, a spokesperson for the Texas secretary of state’s office, told Votebeat. “Election officials have an established method with DPS to check the transaction. If that voter did register, the provisional vote will be counted.”
Texas does not provide general online voter registration. However, residents can register or update their voter information when they renew their driver’s licenses or change their addresses through the DPS online portal.
About 6 million Texans used the DPS portal to register to vote from 2020 through 2024, accounting for nearly one-third of the state’s registered voters.