Texas faces lawsuit after glitch delayed nearly 600,000 voter registrations | Texas

Texas election officials are struggling to process a massive backlog of nearly 600,000 voter registration applications after a major outage of the state’s computer system, just days before early voting opens Monday and amid concerns about widespread voter suppression.

The disruption raised serious concerns about the state’s voter registration system, with voting rights organizations accusing Texas officials of failing to ensure eligible voters could properly register.

The problem stemmed from a software error involving the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), according to a complaint filed last week. The problem affected a website used for driver’s license applications, also designed to allow Texans to register to vote.

The lawsuit alleges that between October 2025 and February 2026, residents who responded “yes” when asked if they wanted to register to vote received receipts confirming their selection. However, their registration information was never actually recorded.

The League of Women Voters of Texas and Move Texas Civic Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing civic participation among young Texans, have filed a lawsuit against state officials.

“Defendants have violated and continue to violate the Contract by failing to follow procedures to simultaneously ensure online voter registration with driver’s license renewal or change of address transactions,” the lawsuit states.

“DPS failed to send nearly 600,000 voter registrations to SOS for distribution to local county registries, with some delayed voter registrations going back as far as October 2025,” it adds. “Unexpected counties must now scramble to process this deluge of last-minute voter registrations ahead of the November 2026 election.”

Among those named in the complaint are Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden, the state’s top election official, and DPS Director Freeman F Martin.

The lawsuit requires both agencies to establish and maintain a functioning voter registration process. She is also seeking records detailing registration failures and an order requiring officials to provide the court with proof of compliance within a month.

The registration breakdown is drawing national attention as Texas prepares for one of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate elections in the country this year. Donald Trump has chosen Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to run against James Talarico, a political newcomer who Democrats hope will be able to turn the longtime red Texas Senate seat blue.

California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee that oversees federal elections, last month demanded answers about the vote-recording system from Texas leaders.

In a letter to state Gov. Greg Abbott and Howden, Padilla pressed for an explanation of how the failure occurred and how many records were affected.

The controversy comes as voting rights advocates continue to warn of what they describe as broader efforts by the Trump administration to suppress voter participation. These concerns include, among other actions, attempts to rig voter maps and threats to deploy federal law enforcement to voting locations.