Natalia Contreras

Scoop from @nataliaecm.bsky.social: After hand-counting primary ballots, Republicans in Calhoun County, TX, failed to submit results to the county within 24 hours of polls closing, a violation of state law. www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/0...

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More than 12 hours after polls closed, Republicans in Eastland County, Texas, are still hand counting primary ballots The county party chose to tally GOP primary ballots by hand this year, delaying results and causing logistical headaches for election administrators

Texas reporter @nataliaecm.bsky.social went to Eastland County, Texas to watch Republicans hand count their primary ballots. The counting was still ongoing on Wednesday morning, more than 12 hours after polls closed.
www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/0...

Texas shares entire voter registration list with the Trump administration Texas turned over data on more than 18 million voters, including partial Social Security numbers, as Democrats raise questions about voter privacy

NEW: This week we learned Texas has agreed and submitted the state's entire voter roll to the DOJ. It includes voters' partial social security numbers and DLs. More on why this matters #txlege www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/0...

Texas flagged 2,724 voters as potential noncitizens. Hundreds may have already proven their citizenship. The Secretary of State’s Office didn’t initially check with the Department of Public Safety, which collects proof of citizenship from people who register to vote through them.

I asked the Texas Secretary of State's Office if they had reviewed the data of potential noncitizens they got from a federal database against DPS data before sending it to counties and the agency said no. www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/1...

NEW: Texas flagged more than 2,000 potential noncitizens on the voter rolls for county officials to investigate, but hundreds registered at DPS and may have already shown proof of citizenship 🔗

Texas counties begin checking on voters flagged as ‘potential noncitizens’ Meanwhile, election officials are voicing concern about the reliability of the federal database that the state used to screen its voter rolls.

The findings are just a small sample for now but election officials are questioning the reliability and accuracy of the data they’ve been given by the state #txlege www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/1...

NEW: Texas counties look into ‘potential noncitizens’ on voter rolls. Here’s what they’re finding:
-US citizens
-data entry errors (we don’t have online voter registration)
-Registrations from DPS (the agency requires proof of citizenship)
-Noncitizens who never voted
#txlege

Texas election officials seek pause on new voter registration system With early voting just days away, counties say they’re running out of time to get their complaints addressed.

ICYMI: I've been reporting on problems with the state's overhaul of its voter registration system. Now, election officials, district clerks, county judges/commissioners, tax assessors are asking the state to halt the rollout and fix the problems first #txlege www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/1...

How Dallas County GOP’s vote to hand-count ballots could roil the March primary “Let’s not forget this is the way it used to be done,” says the county GOP chair. Other counties that have tried it encountered counting errors and discrepancies.

Efforts to hand-count ballots haven't ceased in Texas. Republicans in Dallas County want to try it. In Gillespie County, they'll do it again. In other counties, Republicans are considering it. By law, there's still no way to audit hand count results #txlege www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/1...

Still, the Oct. 6 voter registration deadline is coming up quickly for the November constitutional amendment election. For this story, I also talked to a concerned mom whose daughter's application was turned in in July and has yet to be fully processed. #txlege

The Texas Secretary of State said it anticipated some technical issues with this “once-in-a-decade upgrade.” State officials told election officials this month that many of the problems stem from county officials not knowing how to use the updated system. #txlege

Texas counties struggle with state’s updated TEAM voter registration system Says one election administrator: “One day it works and we can get stuff done, and the next day it doesn’t and nothing gets done.”

Election officials told me that after TEAM was revamped in July, the problems began prolifirating: Voters’ previous addresses override their new ones, their voting precincts don’t populate correctly and often information doesn’t save at all. #txlege www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/0...

ICYM: I've been reporting on issues election officials are experiencing with the state's latest revamp of its voter registration system, known as TEAM. The issues have led to backlogs of tens of thousands of voter registration applications🧵 #txlege

How Texas’ new ID laws for mail voting are affecting turnout A new study from NYU’s Brennan Center looks at the impact of Senate Bill 1 on voter participation, including the rising “cost of voting.”

County election officials in Texas have seen the effects anecdotally, they tell @nataliaecm.bsky.social “Unfortunately, the voters have to jump through so many hoops to get into that corrective-action loop, that they just get frustrated and they give up," one said. www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/0...

Texas redistricting standoff complicates preparations for March 2026 primary New maps would mean months of work for election officials, and key deadlines are approaching.

Redistricting could further burden election officials in Texas, @nataliaecm.bsky.social reports.

"In a typical redistricting cycle year, the process of adapting to new maps is labor-intensive for election officials and takes months." www.texastribune.org/2025/08/08/t...

Wisconsin Senate has no election committee. Where will bills go instead? The first election-related legislation, which would enshrine the state’s photo ID requirement for voters in the constitution, got referred to the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety committee.

Wisconsin Senate will forgo a dedicated election committee
https://www.votebeat.org/wisconsin/2025/01/07/wisconsin-senate-has-no-designated-election-committee/

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