The NAACP, the NAACP's Texas chapter and the Texas chapter of LULAC have sued Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden and Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Freeman F. Martin. The groups want the state to hand over records about delays in processing more than 500,000 voter registration applications. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The plaintiffs allege violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Reports cited in the suit say more than half a million registration transactions were not sent to counties for processing until late September 2026.
A separate technical error left 15,000 registrations unprocessed as of October 16, three days before early voting began for the midterm elections. Alicia Pierce, assistant secretary of state for communications, said the office cannot comment on the lawsuit. She said Texas counties have cleared the backlog and that no counties had pending applications when early voting started.
Bradley Heard, deputy legal director for voting rights litigation at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represents the plaintiffs, said the state should be able to produce records if the backlog has been cleared. He said the groups sent their request on October 8 and asked for a response within 10 business days. Heard said the state would not provide a cost estimate until November 6, which he called unacceptable. Pierce said voters who registered through DPS online services and do not appear on the rolls can still cast provisional ballots.