Daijiworld Media Network – Texas

Texas, Oct 15: A software glitch caused a backlog of nearly 600,000 voter registration applications in Texas, prompting election officials to rush to process them ahead of the start of early voting on Monday.

The backlog resulted from an error in software operated by the Texas Department of Public Safety, according to a lawsuit filed last week by voting rights groups. The groups accused the department and the Texas secretary of state, who serves as the state's chief election officer, of failing to maintain a reliable online voter registration system.

The issue has drawn national attention as Texas prepares for one of the most closely contested US Senate races of the year. US Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California and the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, which oversees federal elections, wrote to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Secretary of State Robert Howden last month, seeking an explanation of the scale and cause of the failure.

"Every eligible voter should be able to cast their ballots and have their ballots counted, period," Padilla said in an interview.

County election officials said the backlog had been largely cleared by Wednesday and expressed little concern that Texans who had attempted to register would be prevented from voting. However, some voting rights advocates warned that the episode could discourage people from turning out to vote.

The lawsuit, filed in Bexar County last week, seeks to ensure that the technical problem is fixed. It also refers to earlier legal action that resulted in a 2021 settlement under which Texas agreed to provide residents with an online voter registration option.