The backlog of voter registration applications at the El Paso County Elections Department is growing.
Across Texas, voter application registrations were delayed getting to county registrars due to an error with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which operates an online portal for voter registration. Because of the error, many counties were receiving a mound of applications less than two weeks before the Oct. 5 registration deadline.
On Wednesday, El Paso County Elections Administrator Lisa Wise reported that less than 1,300 voter registration applications had been delayed. However, by Thursday, the department reported roughly 12,000 applications.
"Over the past 24 hours, Texas county voter registrars across the state have received a significant
influx of new voter registration and voter registration updates submitted through the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)," the Elections Department wrote in a statement. "Some of these submissions date as far back as October 2025 but were not sent to Texas county voter registrars until this week."
The Texas Tribune reported that state officials said the affected transactions produced incomplete voter registration records, preventing them from being sent to county registrars. It remains unclear exactly what information was missing, what made the records incomplete, how many registration applications were impacted, or when the problem began.
In El Paso, elections officials are confident they will meet the Oct. 5 deadline.
"El Paso County voters should be confident that our staff is working diligently to ensure valid voter registrations and updates submitted in a timely manner before the deadline will be processed appropriately," the department wrote, "despite the challenges and additional processing time that this backlog has created."
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso sees surge in delayed voter registrations, testing election staff
