Another Texas Voter Registration Error Prompts Democrats to Demand Action from Abbott

DALLAS - TEXAS, Just days after Texas counties finished processing a backlog of more than 500,000 voter registration records caused by a state error, another problem has surfaced. According to reporting by Votebeat, a new error delayed thousands of voter address updates submitted through Texas.gov, forcing county election officials to process new records just days before early voting begins. Bexar County received 3,000 records, Travis County received 1,100, Williamson County received 700, and Hays County received 400. How many more failures will Governor Greg Abbott tolerate before he takes responsibility? How can the state’s top leader continue to accept repeated problems with a system that affects Texans’ ability to keep their voter registration current?

 “County election officials have been left to clean up one state-created mess after another, working long hours to protect voters while state officials continue to struggle with the systems they are supposed to manage,” said Terri Burke, Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party. “Governor Abbott appointed the Secretary of State, and he has a responsibility to demand answers and action. Texans should not have to wonder whether their voter registration information is being handled correctly because the state’s systems keep failing. Enough is enough.” 

The Texas Democratic Party calls on Governor Abbott and state lawmakers to take immediate action replacing Civix as the vendor for the state’s TEAM voter registration system through a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process, and launch a legislative investigation into the Civix contract, the system’s repeated failures, and the state’s oversight of the vendor. Texas cannot keep paying for a system that election officials say makes their jobs harder while counties bear the burden of fixing the state’s problems. Texans deserve accountability for how their tax dollars are being spent.