State error in Texas creates huge backlog in voter registration applications as midterm voting nears

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – County election offices throughout Texas are scrambling to process a massive backlog of voter registration applications stemming from an error at the state level, a headache that is hitting just as they are preparing for voting to commence.

What happened

Meanwhile, the difficulty, which office-holders in the Republican-controlled state have not publicly defined, additionally could have disenfranchised residents who wanted to vote in the state's March primary but whose registration applications were never processed, local election authorities noted during a news conference Wednesday.

"This is really out of left field. Knowing that this one element of (state) applications didn't come through, and we had no insight on it, " remarked Chris McGinn, executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Office-holders.

In practice, the size of the backlog statewide hasn't been determined, but the association remarked it is in the tens of thousands for some of the state's most populous counties. In Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, the election office received regarding 45, 000 backlogged voter registration applications.

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around state error in Texas creates huge backlog in voter registration applications as point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.