Hi, folks! It’s been a bit of a week.
Election officials across the state are working tirelessly to get hundreds of thousands of voter registration applications that the Texas Department of Public Safety failed to send. I first reported the story after receiving a news tip.
After two days of emails and calls to state officials this week, DPS emailed us a statement last night saying it had “identified a problem” with the record uploads in August. You can see the full statement here. DPS said the agency alerted the Texas Secretary of State’s office, and both agencies worked together to resolve the problem last week.
Here’s what we still don’t know and are actively looking into:
What exactly caused the problem? What’s the total number of records that were unprocessed?
Could this have been prevented? What exactly was done to resolve this and ensure it doesn’t happen again?
Will election officials receive any additional support from state or local officials to get all applications processed?
As you’re reading this, I am working on our next story and we’re hoping to get those answers. Keep following Votebeat for the latest updates.
And you can further support my work on Texas elections by becoming a member. Donating to Votebeat truly helps us provide real information about how elections work. Become a member today. Every dollar really does help.
Please also keep sending your news tips my way. You can reach me at [email protected]
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The Big Story
Texas counties are receiving tens of thousands of unprocessed voter registration applications due to state error
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