Lubbock County Elections Office processing 7,500 applications after DPS backlog

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A backlog of voter registration applications will not prevent anyone from voting in the November election, Lubbock County Elections Administrator Troy Havard said.

The Lubbock County Elections Office received more than 7,500 new voter registrations and updates on Tuesday after an issue with the Texas Department of Public Safety system.

People who recently applied through DPS for a new driver’s license or made a change to their license and checked a box indicating they wanted to register to vote, may be affected.

“This only affects DPS applications. Has no impact and no effect whatsoever on any applications that were sent in the mail, any that were submitted through volunteer deputy registrars, or even any address changes done through Texas Online. Has absolutely nothing to do with those,” Havard said.

Havard said the issue with the DPS system was preventing it from sending registration information to the Texas Secretary of State, which then sends it to each county.

“So, we were getting just none or very few applications coming from DPS,” Havard said.

When DPS fixed the problem, thousands of backlogged applications were sent out across the state, some dating back to October 2025. The number of affected applications in Lubbock County topped out at more than 7,500.

Havard said there’s nothing those voters need to do and they will be able to cast a ballot when early voting starts in a few weeks.

“It’s important for the voters to know that this is not going to impact their ability to vote in the November election. We’ve got this. We’re working on it. We got it under control. I promise everything will be fine. This will not impact anybody’s ability to vote,” Havard said.

Elections office staff members, including some temporary employees, are working overtime to process the influx of applications.

Voters can verify their registration status at VoteTexas.gov. Havard said anyone who does not see they are registered there, and who recently applied through DPS, can call the office to check.

“But I would encourage you to wait for a little while. Give us a chance to work through this list before you check or before you call the office. The more calls that we field about this, there’s less time we can work on correcting these issues,” Havard said.

Havard said he expects all of the applications to be processed before early voting begins. He said even if a voter’s name is still caught up in the backlog at that point, that voter can fill out a provisional ballot, and the office will catch it and count the vote.

“There’s no need for alarm. There’s no need to be concerned. I mean, it happens, things happen, but we’ve got it under control,” Havard said.

To vote in the midterms, a person must be registered to vote. The deadline to register is October 5. Havard said voters should not wait until the last minute in case there is an issue, such as forgetting to sign the application, that leaves no time to correct it.

Early voting runs October 19 through 30. Election Day is November 3. Find all Lubbock County elections information here.

Havard said the county is still looking for poll workers for the midterm election. Training is underway, with two sessions a day scheduled for Friday, Saturday and several days next week.