TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Travis County’s state representatives on Thursday asked Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson to help the county fix issues caused by a recent update of the Texas Election Administration Management (TEAM) system.
The representatives delivered a letter to Nelson, which said that the current situation could lead to otherwise registered voters having to use provisional ballots. The letter states that “Texans have done their part by submitting their applications on time.”
“The responsibility rests with the Secretary of State’s Office to ensure that the system functions as promised, that training on the TEAM software is accessible and thorough, and that voters are not denied their constitutional right to participate in their democracy,” it said. “I strongly urge your office to take immediate action to ensure that every eligible voter is able to participate in this election without unnecessary barriers.”
Votebeat Reporter Natalia Contreras told KXAN on Oct. 3 that the update to TEAM was “huge” and its ensuing problems have dogged election workers across Texas.
The delegation said that it heard reports of problems in Bexar, San Patricio, Tarrant and Travis counties. Some of the issues they mentioned include:
- Voter addresses failing to update;
- Precinct information not populating correctly; and,
- Registration data not being saved.
Rep. Vicki Goodwin, D-Austin, told KXAN that she initially heard from a Travis County resident whose application hadn’t been processed. That led to learning the problem was more widespread than she initially thought.
“We were very concerned that people might not be able to vote in the upcoming election,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that the Secretary of State is doing everything in their power to fix this problem.”
She added that she wants these problems solved in order to avoid a loss of confidence in Texas’ elections.
Nelson’s office provided her reply Thursday afternoon. In it, she said that the update was a “once-in-a-decade” upgrade, and one they want to get done before the midterm elections of 2026.
“This has been a massive undertaking involving the migration of over 20 million records and extensive training with our county partners to learn the new system,” Nelson said. “With a rollout of this magnitude, we always anticipated technical issues – which is why we chose the constitutional election to be the first election using TEAM 2.0. Our staff is systematically addressing any technical issues as they arise.”
She added that Travis County has brought its backlog to within a normal range expected of the state’s largest counties. The Travis County Clerk’s Office said that it processed more than 37,000 applications in three weeks — “a very high volume” for an off-year election.
“With help from other divisions in the Tax Department, we effectively doubled the workforce processing voter registration applications … It’s been a challenge but we’ve been in close partnership with our County Clerk and we’ll be ready for early voting to begin on Monday,” said a Travis County elections spokesperson Thursday.
To the public, Nelson was conciliatory in her response, and said that her staff has been “working nights and weekends for months” to get the system fixed.
“It is worth noting that as of today there are zero backlogs in most counties, including Dallas, Bexar, El Paso, and other highly populated counties,” she added. “Complicating this rollout, our staff is working to assist 24 counties whose voter registration vendor VOTEC abruptly went out of business in August. This left these counties without a functioning voter registration system.”
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