Voter registration backlogs persist days away from early voting in Harris and Fort Bend Counties

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- ABC13 has an update from Harris and Fort Bend Counties on the number of voter registrations that remain unprocessed in both jurisdictions.

As we've reported, thousands of registrations across the state remain in flux due to software problems between impacted counties and the State of Texas.

There are currently 14,096 such registrations in Harris County, according to the Harris County Tax Office.

That number was closer to 30,000 towards the end of September.

John Oldham, who is Fort Bend County's elections administrator, told ABC13 his county still has around 1,200 such registrations.

That number was around 40,000 just a couple of weeks ago.

"This has gone on longer than we anticipated," Oldham said.

Oldham says the reason for that boils down to "a perfect storm" of technical issues.

A county that receives a submitted voter registration form has to send it to the state for processing.

It is then returned to the county from which it originated.

"Once that happens, the voter is officially registered," Oldham said.

The root of the current issue stems from two reasons, according to local and state officials.

The first issue is that the state updated its voter registration software earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the maker of the voter software being used in Harris and Fort Bend Counties announced it would be ceasing operations.

The result of those two problems is that some county software isn't able to properly communicate with the state's updated software.

A spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State's Office says it's an issue that's impacting 24 counties across the state.

"We've been working hand-and-hand with those counties to help make sure their county-based system is able to talk to our system," Alicia Pierce said.

Pierce suggests checking on the Secretary of State's website ahead of time to ensure your voter registration has been finalized.

You can reach out to your county's election office if there appears to be any issues.

ABC13 asked Oldham what would happen if someone showed up on Election Day and learned their registration remained unprocessed.

He said the voter would be offered the opportunity to submit a provisional ballot, which would have to be finalized in the days following the election.

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