Bexar County Elections Department officials on Wednesday said the Texas Department of Public Safety sent the county 45,000 backlogged voter registrations as the state agency tries to fix a processing error it made.
Due to a computer system problem, DPS failed to send tens of thousands of voter registration applications to elections officials around the state, news site VoteBeat reported Wednesday. Some of the misplaced registrations date back at least a year and have yet to be processed.
DPS officials didn’t offer specifics about the nature of the error. However, they told VoteBeat that the agency worked with the Texas Secretary of State’s office to “identify incomplete records to backfill incomplete information.”
In a statement, Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew said her office is working overtime to handle the influx and make sure all applications are processed before early voting for the midterms starts on Oct. 19.
“The Bexar County Elections Department has received a little over 45,000 online Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) voter registration transactions that didn’t fully transfer into the State’s TEAM system,” Carew said. “While that number may seem high, the Elections team is already hard at work reviewing every application and will be extending hours to make sure all records are updated well before early voting begins.”
Carew added: “If a voter is currently on suspense status and they submitted a new address during their DPS transaction, their voter record will be updated, and they will be removed from the suspense list.”
In a statement posted to social media platform X, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said county officials assured her that they will process the entire backlog by the Oct. 5 voter registration deadline.
“Additionally, as of Wednesday afternoon, there are still [112,000 San Antonio] voters on the state’s suspense list (~15%) meaning you need to confirm your address,” Jones added.
The mayor urged voters to immediately check their registration status with the state’s online portal. Those listed as in “suspense” should call the Bexar County Elections Office at (210) 335-VOTE to have it corrected by Oct. 5.
The mishandled state records go back as far as October 2025, which means county elections administrators are now processing nearly a year of backlogged registrations, according to VoteBeat. The applications could include brand-new registrations or updates to voters’ existing records such as changes of address.
Chris McGinn, executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, told VoteBeat and other news outlets that DPS’s error “increased the administrative burden” on county officials, including those in smaller jurisdictions who will have to scramble since they have fewer staffers and resources.
“There’s going to be a lot of counties that are paying a lot of overtime,” McGinn said.
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