Texas officials recently sent tens of thousands of delayed voter registration applications to county election officials after an error was discovered in the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) system. The issue prevented certain incomplete applications from being transmitted, and the problem was first identified by the nonprofit news outlet Votebeat. Beginning on Tuesday, state officials started sending the corrected records to local election offices. However, the exact number of affected voters remains unclear, and large counties are now facing a significant workload as they prepare for early voting, which begins on October 19. More applications are expected to arrive before the October 5 voter registration deadline in Texas. Bexar County, the state’s fourth-most populous county, received over 45,000 voter registration forms from DPS, while Travis County, the fifth-most populous, received more than 35,000. Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew stated that her team is reviewing each application and plans to extend working hours to ensure all records are updated before early voting begins. Chris McGinn, executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, noted that urban areas would be most affected due to higher registration numbers and more frequent moves. He also pointed out that some records might be duplicates, such as when voters register to vote while updating their driver’s license, but they still require careful processing by election officials. Texas Secretary of State spokesperson Alicia Pierce explained that voters who believe they registered but do not appear on the state’s official list can cast a provisional ballot. Election officials can later check DPS records to verify their status. This fall, Texas will hold several competitive statewide elections, including races for state representative and governor. Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, running against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, called the error "unacceptable" and urged Texans to check their voter registration status online. He criticized the situation as an example of a "broken, corrupt political system" that risks voters’ rights. Meanwhile, Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa is running against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in another key race. McGinn advised voters to contact their local registrar’s office directly, as Texas’ online voter registration system has reportedly had issues this year. Some voters have found their registrations incorrectly marked as inactive, even when they are valid. With the early voting period approaching, election officials are working to ensure that all eligible voters are properly registered and that their votes will be counted.