Texas lawmakers on Tuesday asked the Texas Secretary of State’s Office for assurances that issues with the state’s voter registration and election management system would be fixed before the November midterm election.

Voter Registration System Issues

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Harris County, expressed concerns about the system, known as TEAM, during a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing. Bettencourt said he’s heard complaints about the system from election officials in several counties, including Travis, Austin, and Jackson counties.

Christina Adkins, the elections division director at the secretary of state’s office, said the agency is dedicating every possible resource to resolving these issues. Adkins stated that the agency is working with the vendor, Civix, to address the problems.

System Redesign and Redevelopment

TEAM was redesigned and redeveloped by the state and relaunched last summer. Election officials have struggled with the system since then, and although some functionality issues have been resolved, others continue to arise.

For example, election officials have reported that processes such as voter registration status lookups and precinct assignments frequently don’t work properly. The system often malfunctions when attempting to produce reports of registered voters and voters who have requested a mail ballot, forcing some election officials to produce their own spreadsheets to keep track.

The problems have added financial and staffing strains on counties already strapped for resources. The system was developed by Civix, a Louisiana-based vendor, under a $17 million contract with the state.

Original reporting: Texas Tribune (HLL/CB) — read the source article.