Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew Says Staff Are Extending Hours To Review Every Delayed DPS Transaction Before Early Voting Begins Oct. 19
Bexar County election officials say they are working extended hours to process more than 45,000 voter-registration transactions that failed to fully transfer from the Texas Department of Public Safety into the state’s election system.
In an official statement, Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew said her department received “a little over 45,000” online DPS transactions affected by the problem. County staff are now reviewing each record individually.
“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 said.
Early voting for the Nov. 3 election begins Oct. 19, giving the county several weeks to work through the unexpected backlog.
Some Suspense-List Voters Could See Their Status Updated
Carew also provided clarification for voters currently listed in suspense status.
If a voter submitted a new address as part of one of the affected DPS transactions, the county will update that voter’s record once the transaction is processed and remove the voter from the suspense list, Carew said.
Related: Are You on the Suspense List? Texas Voters: Check Your Registration
That is an important distinction for voters checking their registration ahead of the election. A suspense designation generally means election officials need updated address information; it does not automatically mean a voter is ineligible to cast a ballot.
How The Backlog Happened
The problem originated with voter-registration information submitted through DPS during driver’s-license transactions. Some registrations and updates did not completely transfer into the state’s Texas Election Administration Management system, or TEAM, leaving county election offices without the information needed to update voter records.
State officials have said the underlying system issue has been corrected and previously incomplete records are now being sent to counties for processing.
The delayed transactions include both new voter registrations and changes to existing voter records, meaning the 45,000 figure does not necessarily represent 45,000 previously unregistered voters.
Questions Remain About Earlier Elections
The county’s Sept. 23 statement focuses primarily on clearing the backlog before the upcoming election and does not provide a count of how many records have already been processed or how many remain outstanding.
It also does not address whether voters affected by the delayed transactions encountered registration problems during previous elections.
That remains one of the biggest unanswered questions as officials work through records that, according to statewide reporting, can date back many months.
For now, Carew says the department expects the records to be updated before voting begins.
Bexar County is urging residents to check their voter-registration status through the county Elections Department website, particularly if they recently registered or updated their address through DPS.
