Delayed Texas voter applications highlight how difficult it is to register in the state, experts say

Votebeat and the Texas Tribune:

Texas’ backlog of at least 200,000 voter registration applications and updates, which election officials must now process in the weeks before the critical midterm elections due to state error, is highlighting just how difficult it can be to register to vote in Texas, voting rights experts said.

Texas is one of just eight states that doesn’t have universal online voter registration and it severely restricts voter registration efforts. Texans with driver’s licenses can use the state Department of Public Safety’s web portal to register to vote or update their voter registration. But that’s the only online option for registration — and it was ordered by a judge after a six-year long legal battle. More than 6 million voters have used the portal since it launched in 2020. 

But Votebeat and the Texas Tribune reported an untimely flaw in that system earlier this week: DPS failed to send counties thousands of voter registration applications and updates submitted through that web portal, dating back to October 2025. The agency blamed the error on a software update. The problem has sparked bipartisan calls for an investigation into what went wrong, and state officials so far have provided few details. 

“We live in a system that has been designed to make things harder for voters,” said Sarah Chen, the senior supervising attorney at Texas Civil Rights Project. “We don’t have online voter registration, except for this teeny little carveout, and because of the teeny little carveout, now we have these technical glitches resulting in this backlog.”

On top of the backlog of  unprocessed applications, county election officials will also have to process hundreds of applications submitted in person and mailed in between now and Oct. 5, the voter registration deadline. Officials have promised every record will be processed, but advocates such as Chen are worried some voters could be disenfranchised if they aren’t added to the rolls in time. 

On Friday, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office told counties it would offer grants to reimburse “costs incurred above your routine operational expenses related specifically to the increased number of DPS voter registration applications,” though it isn’t clear how much money is available or where the funds come from. ….