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Texas Counties Work to Process 200,000 Backlogged Voter Registrations Following State Portal Error

County election offices across Texas are processing more than 200,000 delayed voter registration records after a state portal technical glitch held up driver's license submissions ahead of the October deadline.

Esme Whitlock

September 26, 20262 min read

Voter registration - illustration, Jake Team LLC

Aubrey, Texas — County election offices across Texas have begun working through an unexpected backlog exceeding 200,000 delayed voter enrollment submissions and address updates after an issue with a state database system held up electronic transmissions dating back as far as October 2025. The affected records involve applications and registration updates submitted by motorists using the Texas Department of Public Safety web service during driver's license transactions.

The problem stemmed from a software revision carried out by an external technical vendor that manages batch transactions for state motor vehicle databases, which caused incomplete applications to be withheld rather than delivered to local registrars. Officials within the Texas Secretary of State's Office were alerted to the situation after municipal and county election staff detected an anomalous wave of older submissions flowing into TEAM, the statewide voter registration infrastructure.

State lawmakers from both parties have voiced concern regarding the delayed transmissions with the October 5 deadline rapidly approaching ahead of the November general ballot. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, stated that state agencies should have spotted the reporting breakdown much earlier.

"If the files were received, pulled, or not, that should have been noticeable. They should have caught it." — State Sen. Paul Bettencourt

Located in northern Denton County near the Highway 377 corridor, Aubrey election personnel are collaborating with Denton County administrators to review incoming electronic registration files.

In response to the surge, the Texas Secretary of State's Office announced emergency reimbursement funds to help county elections departments pay for overtime and additional staff needed to review incoming applications before registration rolls close. State election authorities affirmed that eligible Texans whose records experienced delays may cast provisional ballots on Election Day, which election staff will validate and tabulate after verifying the resident submitted their registration request prior to the statutory cutoff.

Sources:

Votebeat: https://www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/09/26/voter-registration-delay-backlog-online-dps-error/

The Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/09/24/dps-voter-registration-applications-error-paul-bettencourt-team/

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Esme Whitlock

Esme Whitlock covers Aubrey city hall, the council, and county government.

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