Texas says voter-registration backlog cleared before early voting

Texas officials said they knew of no county with delayed voter-registration applications still pending, days before early voting was scheduled to begin Oct. 19. On Oct. 15, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office said the office was unaware of any county still awaiting applications from the backlog.

The backlog involved voter-registration applications and updates that had not reached county offices for processing. Officials attributed the problem to an error involving the Texas Department of Public Safety’s online driver’s-license portal. The delayed records dated back to October 2025, according to The Texas Tribune.

The state has not disclosed an exact statewide total. The Texas Tribune reported more than 500,000 affected records, while The Associated Press described the backlog as involving hundreds of thousands. Those descriptions are not an official state count.

A separate estimate appears in a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas Civic Fund. The organizations cite at least 593,000 affected registrations, attributing the figure to Dallas Morning News reporting, according to The Washington Post. That estimate is a claim by the plaintiffs, not a count confirmed by the state or established by a court.

Harris County had more than 75,000 affected records and finished processing its backlog earlier in October, the Associated Press reported. The Secretary of State’s office said it would continue supporting counties, including with grants for overtime and temporary workers.

What the lawsuit asks the court to do

The two organizations filed their complaint Oct. 9 in Bexar County’s 224th District Court. They allege failures in the registration process breached obligations under a 2021 settlement concerning opportunities to register when renewing a driver’s license or updating an address online.

The plaintiffs ask the court to require state agencies to maintain a functioning registration process, produce records documenting registration failures and provide proof of compliance within a month. These are requests in the lawsuit, not requirements imposed by a court. The reporting on the case has not confirmed a ruling granting the requested relief or establishing the size of the backlog.

The case concerns Texans whose new registration applications or updates submitted through the DPS portal were delayed before reaching county registrars. The office’s statement addressed whether delayed applications remained pending with counties; it does not establish whether every affected voter’s individual record was correctly updated.

The Secretary of State’s spokesperson said voters who are not on the rolls can cast provisional ballots. The Secretary of State’s office says counties have processed the delayed applications and updates, while the lawsuit seeks records and court enforcement of the state’s obligations under the settlement. The Washington Post reported that DPS declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.