Texas officials acknowledge problems with voter registration system, will work with locals on a fix

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After more than a year of complaints, Texas officials are acknowledging the state’s upgraded voter registration management system hasn’t met performance expectations. The state is planning an audit of the system, and on Thursday told county election officials it would also create working groups aimed at improving its function.

“Continued areas of concern pose a direct risk to election officials’ ability to meet … legal obligations for statewide election administration in an efficient manner,” according to a request for proposals for an independent audit of the system the state posted Wednesday.

As Votebeat first reported, county election officials have been voicing increasingly urgent concerns since the state rolled out the updated system, known as TEAM, in the summer of 2025. They say TEAM has made it hard to complete essential daily tasks, much less prepare for an election.

The audit request and work groups were announced in the days following Texas’ hugely consequential midterm election in which at least 9 million people voted.

The state’s planned audit will assess whether TEAM works properly, according to an email the secretary of state’s elections division director, Christina Adkins, sent to county officials Friday and obtained by Votebeat. Adkins said the state has also created a new ticketing system that county officials can use to track progress resolving issues with TEAM once they’ve raised them, something county officials have long asked for. County officials will also be included in the working groups to improve the system.

Kristin Miles, president of the Texas Association of County Election Officials and the elections administrator in Bastrop County, hailed the move by the state Friday.

“County election officials carried the weight of TEAM’s unresolved issues through every election this year, and we are glad to see the Secretary of State taking appropriate steps to address them for the benefit of all Texas voters,” Miles said in an emailed statement. “TACEO will be watching closely to make sure these commitments are carried out in full, on schedule, and with genuine county input.”

In a news release, Secretary of State Robert Howden, who was appointed by outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott in July, stressed that the state conducted multiple “successful statewide elections using the updated system, and we have learned a great deal.”

He said that without a major statewide election in the coming year, the state has an opportunity to seek input to improve TEAM.

“We need the input of our county election officials and their staff in order to ensure that the enhancements we are building into the system align with the needs of election workers,” he said. “With their help, we will deliver a system that makes it easier for counties to run elections.”

County election officials overcome hurdles to pull off a smooth election

County election administrators Tuesday were able to pull off a smooth election without major problems for voters. But they faced a multitude of challenges first.

TEAM was overhauled last summer. It was designed and developed by Louisiana-based company Civix. But election officials began reporting problems with the system from the start. Multiple election officials told Votebeat the system is slow, quits working unexpectedly and does not allow them to efficiently process voter registration records.

For instance, the system doesn’t let election officials sort records by date submitted; it doesn’t allow them to select multiple mail-in ballot records to mark them as sent or received and instead they have to mark them one by one. Some election officials have had to rely on workarounds to process voter registration records and mail-in ballots more efficiently.

In response to the drumbeat of criticism, state officials said TEAM’s launch was complicated by multiple factors. One was the rare midcycle redistricting Texas Republican lawmakers pushed through last year.

But election officials said the issues with TEAM went beyond those explanations. They said the system complicated their ability to manage other hurdles, including two state-created backlogs of thousands of voter registration records that they scrambled to resolve with limited time ahead of Election Day.

In her email to election officials, Adkins said the working groups are expected to begin meeting in December and January.

The groups are set to include county election administrators, county and district clerks, and tax assessor-collectors “to ensure that all TEAM users with various TEAM user roles are given the opportunity to provide feedback on the system, engage in system testing, and help define priorities going forward,” Adkins wrote. Officials with Civix, the system vendor, will also be involved, state officials told Votebeat Friday.

The independent audit “will evaluate the system itself, including assessing the completeness and functionality of the modules delivered, an assessment of user needs, and a determination of the long-term salvageability of the current system,” Adkins wrote.

The audit is expected to begin in December to ensure results are available in time for consideration during the 2027 legislative session, Adkins’ email said.

Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Natalia is based in Corpus Christi. Contact her at [email protected].