Errors plague Texas voter registration software weeks before midterm

A software bug that led to at least 590,000 voter registrations not being sent to county officials for processing is far from the only error to strike Texas voter registration systems this past year. 

Election officials across Texas say they have struggled with unreliable software since Louisiana-based technology and consulting firm Civix rolled out a system overhaul in July 2025.

Despite repeated assurances from the state that fixes are coming, county officials and residents alike have continued to encounter confusion and inaccuracies using the Texas Election Administration Management, or TEAM, system. 

A Dallas Morning News analysis of county and state records shows likely data consistency problems were present even after the Texas Secretary of State’s office acknowledged an error with the state voter lookup tool, then said it was fixed on Sept. 15. 

Local authorities worry that TEAM’s issues may impose an additional administrative burden on counties, just weeks before early voting starts Oct. 19.

Texas midterm election: Oct. 5 is the last day to register 

“It has become evident that these problems are the result of fundamental system architecture failures by the state’s voter registration database vendor,” the Texas Association of County Election Officials wrote in a Sept. 28 news release.

Secretary of State spokesperson Alicia Pierce did not address the Association of County Election Officials’ criticism in an email to The News. 

“Texas has had seven successful elections since the rollout of the newly developed TEAM,” Pierce wrote. “Additional features addressing county concerns will be rolled out soon as we all prepare for the November election.”

Texas voters interact with TEAM when they use the state’s voter lookup tool at votetexas.gov, which is supposed to show their active or inactive (also known as suspense) status. That data comes directly from county voter rolls, which are sent regularly to TEAM by jurisdictions including Dallas County.

From a sample of 11,000 registered voters, the News found about 160 mismatches between county and state records when comparing Dallas County’s Sept. 1 voter roll to data from the state lookup tool obtained on Sept. 21.

Those discrepancies included differences in voters’ registration status, county of residence and whether they could even be found in the state system. The News focused on voters for whom mismatches would suggest an error in data transmission to TEAM or its data processing. 

Read more: Here’s what to do if you’re on the suspense list

Exactly what caused each one of the mismatches is unclear. Some incorrect counties of residence could be linked to a missing data check that the Secretary of State’s Office said its vendor had fixed in a message to county officials on Sept. 29.

It’s unclear how many inaccurate records exist because of underlying bugs, but other users have noticed similar problems with the TEAM system. 

“If you’re appearing in one place and you’re questioning what your status is when you’re seeing it someplace else, there is absolutely a concern there,” Dallas County Elections Administrator Paul Adams later told The News. 

The number of voters on the Secretary of State’s March suspense list also differed dramatically from Dallas County’s by about 50,000 voters, though it was only off by about 6,000 voters for February. Records change dynamically, so it is unlikely the publicly posted numbers would ever match exactly. 

County elections administrators have also noted inaccuracies on legally required reports generated through TEAM, according to letters local officials have sent to the Secretary of State’s office, published by Courthouse News Service. 

“The current status of TEAM and the public facing voter portals could cause some voter confusion,” said Kristin Miles, Bastrop County elections administrator and president of the Texas Association of County Elections Officials. “The message … has been for voters to contact their local county election officials.” 

Miles said there are failsafes, like backup records, that preserve the integrity of election results in Texas. Voters whose registration status is unclear may also cast provisional ballots at the polls, which undergo more thorough verification for eligibility.  

Still, many county officials are concerned that new bugs with TEAM could pop up, confusing voters more and adding more cleanup for their staff. 

“TEAM updates … carry a risk that a fix in one place creates unintended consequences elsewhere,” Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Doinoff told Texas House members at an Aug. 3 hearing. 

Civix is the rebranded company resulting from a merger involving TEAM’s previous vendor, PCC. The firm signed a $17 million contract with the Secretary of State in late 2023 to overhaul the old system. Civix also handles voter registration software in Pennsylvania and Iowa. According to its website, it managed records for about 50 million voters in the 2020 election. 

Shortly after the July software update, county officials began to express concerns. In an October letter, they urged then-Secretary of State Jane Nelson, to “halt any further system-wide rollouts or feature changes until a stabilization plan exists or at least until after the completion of this Election Cycle.” 

County officials sent another letter to the Secretary of State’s office in February, outlining more issues they observed or predicted and concerns about Election Day operations. 

Miles said the Secretary of State did not respond to those requests. 

More recently, the Secretary of State’s office has more publicly acknowledged issues with TEAM.

“We appreciate your patience and partnership while these issues are being addressed,” Director of Elections Christina Adkins wrote local officials in a statewide email on Sept. 2. 

But the state has not provided an easy way for county officials to track existing issues and fix schedules, said Sam Taylor, public affairs director for the Texas Association of County Elections Officials. Many messages from the Secretary of State’s office also don’t give local authorities actionable information, he added. 

Now, the Association of County Elections Officials is asking the Secretary of State’s office to withhold payment from Civix until ensuring the “delivery and maintenance of reliable voter registration database software.” 

Pierce, the Secretary of State spokesperson, said the office has “communicated directly with counties on a continual basis.” She did not directly respond to a question about county officials’ requests for pausing updates or withholding payment to Civix.

Civix did not immediately respond to questions from The News.

Map:  Tracking backlogged Texas DPS voter registrations

Though some small counties have spent the last few months investing extra time and money to create backup data systems, other elections offices don’t have those resources. 

Fannin County Clerk Jenny Garner said despite going through many shaky IT rollouts before, the burden TEAM has placed on her office and the confusion it generates for voters isn’t normal. 

“We’re used to being stressful,” Garner said. “And you have issues that arise, but not like this.” 

You can cross-check your registration status by calling your County’s elections office or using a local registration lookup tool, if it’s available where you live. If you’re not sure about your status, you can submit a physical voter registration. If it’s postmarked before Oct. 5 and you’re otherwise eligible, you should still be able to vote. 

The News’ analysis focused on two types of registered voters in Dallas County: Those who were on the suspense list earlier in 2026, then moved to active registration status by September; and those who were newly added to the county’s voter roll in September.

These characteristics suggest a voter’s status or residence that occurred relatively recently, and that it’s unlikely those details were reversed without a technical issue. Because Dallas County’s data is supposed to regularly populate TEAM, the state system is supposed to return the same details. 

A mismatch between Dallas County data and the Secretary of State’s lookup tool then signals an error or extended delay in data transmission or TEAM’s data processing, as does a voter who is not found using the TEAM lookup. 

The News was able to obtain voter registration information for about 11,000 people in those two groups on Sept. 21 and compare it to the county’s Sept. 1 voter roll. Mismatches identified include: 

• 31 voters listed as inactive in the state system but active in Dallas County
• 61 voters listed as not living in Dallas County in the state system 
• 43 voters who couldn’t be found in the state system using their state voter ID

Pierce did not respond to a question about why these mismatches occurred.