Massive Texas backlog of voter reg­is­tra­tions that scrambled workers has been cleared, state says – Spectrum News

Massive Texas backlog of voter reg­is­tra­tions that scrambled workers has been cleared, state says  Spectrum News

State officials have not said how many applications were delayed but the number was in the hundreds of thousands. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A massive backlog of voter registration applications in Texas that frustrated counties and raised concerns among Democrats nationally has been cleared days before early voting begins, state election officials said Thursday. The backlog, which state officials attributed to a software glitch, left counties big and small scrambling to process scores of voter registrations late in an unusually competitive midterm election season in Texas. Early voting in the state begins Monday. State officials have not said how many applications were delayed but the number was in the hundreds of thousands, including over 75,000 in Harris County, which includes Houston and finished its backlog earlier this month.

“With our size, that was a big win for our county,” said Harris County Tax Assessor and Voter Registrar Annette Ramirez, who oversees the county's elections. The problem, which officials in the Republican-controlled state have not publicly defined, started last October in the Texas Department of Public Safety, which among other things allows people to register to vote or update their voter registrations when they renew their driver’s license. The error failed to send a large number of records to applicants’ home counties, where the applications are processed and verified. Those records