Montgomery County confronts 34,780-voter backlog after Texas state transmission error

The useful part

Thousands of applications were delayed because of a state-level technological error, according to election officials. ABC13 reached out to Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery Counties to see what the local impact has been. Montgomery County said it has received approximately 34,780 records to process and has a little over three weeks to do it.

How it works

• "These counties, the burden is going to be on them to hire extra workers and do whatever they have to do to make sure these people's registrations get on the rolls," Sims said.
• If a person shows up to vote and they do not appear on the voter rolls, election officials said they can cast a provisional ballot.
• Both election officials and political scientists now stress just how important it is for people to check their voter registrations.
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What to take from it

"This delay in forwarding those registrations is going to create an administrative nightmare for the election officials," said UH Political Science Lecturer Nancy Sims. Submissions dating back as far as last October were not sent to Texas county voter registrars until this week, according to the Texas Association of County Election Officials. Officials said an error failed to send many records to home counties, where applications are processed and verified.

Example or evidence

• DPS said some online records were incomplete and never fully sent to the Secretary of State's Office.
• Election officials are under a tight deadline to process the applications by Oct.
• State and county officials said voters who submit their registration by Oct.
• "You've got hundreds of thousands of voters in Texas potentially disenfranchised, and that is not okay.

Details worth keeping

ABC13 reached out, and we're waiting to hear back. You can check your registration online at VoteTexas.gov or by contacting your county election office directly. Report a correction or typo Copyright © 2026 KTRK-TV.

Related coverage

• Washingtonpost: County officials are suddenly facing a high volume of online applications, some nearly a year old, linked to a state error.
• Nbcdfw: Less than a month before early voting begins, Dallas County elections officials are sorting through 68,104 voter registrations that were filed through Texas' online drivers license portal since October 2025...
• Nbcdfw: Less than two weeks before the Oct.