Voting rights groups in Texas have filed a lawsuit alleging the state violated a 2021 settlement agreement after technical problems with the Department of Public Safety's web portal caused a delay in voter registrations for months.
The League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas Civic Fund are asking a Bexar County judge to require the Texas Secretary of State’s office and DPS to ensure that voters who update or renew their driver’s licenses online can simultaneously register to vote or update their registration. The lawsuit says nearly 600,000 delayed registration records were sent to counties shortly before the November election.
"Texas agreed in court to make this form of online voter registration through DPS work, and then failed to deliver. Instead, the system has been functioning as a barrier to the ballot box," Mia Balderas, Interim Executive Director for MOVE Texas Civic Fund, said. "No one should have to wonder for months whether their registration was ever processed, or chase down their own paperwork to make sure their voice counts."
DPS system problems led to voter registration backlog
The backlog of voter registrations stems from an update of the DPS system that caused it to stop sending registrations to county election offices.
The Secretary of State's Office said the registrations were sent over to counties in time to be processed ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
On Wednesday, the Texas Secretary of State's Office declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said it was not aware of any counties with pending applications. It also said it would continue providing grants to counties to cover overtime and temporary workers.
The agency said that those who registered before the Oct. 5 deadline will be eligible to vote in the Nov. 3 election, even if the application was processed later. The effective date of the registration will be the date of the DPS transaction, the office said.
If a registered voter through DPS does not appear on the rolls, they will be able to cast a provisional ballot. Election officials have a process to verify the transaction with DPS, and the vote will be counted if the voter completed the registration, the office said.
2021 settlement created online voter registration process
The backstory:
In 2016, Texas voters and voting rights groups sued the state, claiming that not being able to register to vote online while updating their address, driver's license or state ID through DPS was a violation of the National Voter Registration Act. A federal judge ruled in their favor in 2018, but an appeals court overturned the ruling, finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing.
The voters and groups sued again in 2020. A federal judge ordered Texas to offer voters the option to register to vote through DPS' online portal when they updated their driver's license or state ID. As part of a 2021 settlement, the state agreed to permanently maintain the process.
The latest lawsuit claims the state has failed to uphold that agreement. It argues that the settlement allows the groups to sue if "data, methodological, or other systemic limitations" have caused the process to fail.
The lawsuit claims some voters are still experiencing issues with their voter registration showing an updated address.
What they're saying:
"The 2021 settlement agreement paved the way for millions of Texans to register to vote online with just the click of a box," Karla Maradiaga, Staff Attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said. "Now, before a critical midterm election, the state is in denial about issues with the DPS system despite knowing voters have already been impacted, and has refused to be transparent with Texans about why these delays happened and what they will do to remedy this unacceptable breach. Texas voters deserve a functional, convenient voter registration system, and we will fight to ensure the state is held accountable to them."
The Department of Public Safety said it does not discuss pending litigation.
The Source: Information on the lawsuit and previous litigation comes from the court documents filed in Bexar County District Court and the Texas Civil Rights Project. Information on the finishing of the voter registration backlog comes from the Secretary of State's Office.