Overview
- Voting rights groups the League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas Civic Fund filed suit in Bexar County alleging the state breached a 2021 settlement that required a working online registration option through the Department of Public Safety.
- State officials say a third‑party software update to the DPS driver’s license portal omitted required data fields and stopped transmitting motor‑voter records, producing a backlog estimated between roughly 500,000 and nearly 600,000 registrations.
- The delayed files dated back to October 2025 and counties received rebuilt records in late September, forcing election offices to verify, de‑duplicate and enter large batches before the Oct. 5 registration deadline and the Oct. 19 start of early voting.
- Texas and county officials say the DPS backlog has been cleared, that registrations submitted through DPS before Oct. 5 will be effective for the Nov. 3 election, and that provisional ballots and state grants for overtime and temporary help are available.
- The lawsuit asks a judge to compel DPS and the secretary of state to produce records of the failures and show proof of compliance within a month, a step that could lead to court-ordered oversight and wider scrutiny of vendor and system controls.