Early voting begins Monday in Texas with a record 19 million registered voters, even after a series of technology outages forced counties to process thousands of delayed or corrected voter records just days before the election.
Figures released Friday by the Texas Secretary of State show 19,041,684 registered voters ahead of the Nov. 3 election. This represents an increase of 553,518, or about 3 percent, from last November.
“We’re heading into early voting strong, but it’s because of the people, not the system,” said Fernanda Maldonado, policy director of the MOVE Texas Civic Fund. News week Friday.
Texas, with a population of about 32 million, has become a battleground state, even though it has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994. Three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is in a tight race with Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa, and there is a razor-thin margin in the Senate race between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his Democratic challenger James Talarico.
Counties rush to process voter records
Harris County, where Houston is located, received about 1,400 records on Oct. 15 due to a problem updating records on Texas.gov, followed by two more batches the next day to bring the total to more than 2,400, Annette Ramirez, the county’s tax assessor and registrar of voters, said in a statement to News week.
The county processed all records Friday, but asked the secretary of state to confirm whether all affected Harris County records had been transmitted. At the time of this statement, she was still awaiting a response.
The county emphasized that the Texas.gov issue was separate from DPS’s previous backlog.
The most recent issue specifically affected people who were already registered and using Texas.gov to change their name or address. This should not be treated as 15,000 new applications for registration on the electoral lists.
Initial estimates from the Texas Association of County Election Officials identified about 3,000 affected records in Bexar County, 1,100 in Travis County, 700 in Williamson County and 400 in Hays County.
Previous backlog puts pressure on county offices
The latest episode follows a backlog of 500,000 files discovered by authorities in September. A problem prevented complete voter registration records from being transmitted to county registrars.
The record voter turnout comes after counties faced two separate technology issues involving Texas voter records. An earlier error involving online transactions through the Texas Department of Public Safety delayed more than 500,000 voter registration registrations and updates, some dating back to October 2025.
Harris County reported receiving more than 75,000 cases from this backlog as of September 22. More than 50 staff members worked to review and process the records by Oct. 3, just two days before the state’s registration deadline, according to the county. New requests among these records still required state verification, and voter files continued to be updated as those verifications were completed.
The Secretary of State previously said News week that the effective record date would be the date of the qualifying DPS transaction. It said a voter whose transaction occurred on or before Oct. 5 would be considered timely registered, even if the application was processed later.
The agency also said voters who registered through DPS online services but are not on the rolls can vote provisionally. Election officials can verify the DPS transaction, and the ballot will be counted if officials confirm an eligible voter is registered on time, according to the agency.
Maldonado said local election officials and advocacy groups should not have the responsibility to make up for what she described as a broken system. MOVE Texas Civic Fund, a nonpartisan, nonprofit voting rights group, plans to continue seeking change through litigation and at the state Capitol, including comprehensive online voter registration, she said.
“County election officials have been working overtime to clear backlogs, and voting rights advocates and civic organizations across the state have spent months preparing to protect the vote and ensure every voter knows their options,” Maldonado said. “We will monitor closely and be prepared to support and respond if voters experience any issues.”
Speedy trial in case of registration problems
Previous failures have also led to litigation.
The League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas Civic Fund sued state officials in Bexar County on Oct. 9, alleging that failures in the state’s voter registration systems violated a 2021 regulation regarding registration through the DPS online driver’s license portal. The Texas Civil Rights Project filed the brief on behalf of the groups.
As part of the earlier settlement, Texas agreed to maintain a process for eligible voters to register or update their registrations while completing online transactions for a driver’s license or state identification. The new case asks a court to enforce that agreement and require safeguards against future failures. She is not seeking monetary damages.
The lawsuit concerns previous DPS-related failures. The separate Texas.gov glitch revealed this week has not been established as part of the plaintiffs’ claims.
What are the issues in Texas?
The biggest statewide contest is the U.S. Senate race between Paxton and Talarico, where most polls show a narrow lead for Talarico.
A Marist poll released last week showed Talarico leading Paxton 47 to 45 percent among likely voters. Among registered voters, Talarico held a four-point lead, up from six points a month earlier. The poll’s margin of error for likely voters was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
Abbott was ahead 49 percent to 45 percent. in the Marist poll. A ReconMR/Siena Research Institute poll of 617 likely voters, conducted October 5-8, had Abbott up one point, from 48 percent to 47 percent. A University of Massachusetts Lowell/YouGov poll of 850 likely voters in late September gave Abbott a 48 percent to 44 percent lead.
In-person early voting in Texas begins Monday and continues through October 30. The deadline for receiving postal vote requests is October 23.
Gn usa
