Texas faces voting rights lawsuit after 600,000 registrations caught in IT failure

Texas election officials are facing a lawsuit after a computer error delayed nearly 600,000 voter registration applications for almost a year, just weeks before the US midterm elections.

The lawsuit was filed last week by the Texas Civil Rights Project, League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas Civic Fund.

According to Votebeat, a technical problem involving a vendor prevented the Texas Department of Public Safety from sending voter registration applications to the secretary of state's office.

The issue reportedly began in October 2025, leaving thousands of applications unprocessed.

The advocacy groups allege that the delays violated a 2021 legal settlement allowing Texas residents to register to vote online when renewing their driving licences or updating their addresses.

“Our members and many other Texans have been affected, and we need assurance that these delays will not happen again in the future, and certainly not in the lead-up to an election,” said Tae Mi Lee, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas.

The delayed applications were finally forwarded to county election offices last month, leaving officials with limited time to process them before November's elections.

However, the Texas secretary of state's office told Votebeat on Wednesday that every county had now cleared its backlog.