Texas voter software fails again

A software error has caused another problem with Texas’ voter registration logs, KUT radio’s Texas Newsroom in Austin reported.

The glitch caused by “an extra address validation” affected Texans who updated their names and addresses on the state’s government record portal, texas.gov, between Sept. 1 and last week, according to an email sent by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

Many of the updated records were still missing voters’ new addresses, election officials said. As of the afternoon of Oct. 16, those addresses are now showing up for Texas county election officials, according to an email from the state office.

Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said the agency sent 15,000 records back to counties. She added the problem has been resolved, and voters will still be able to cast a ballot.

This latest issue arises only days after Texas election officials said they cleared an earlier voter registration backlog. That was caused by an error prompted by a Texas Department of Public Safety software update.

It had an impact on more than 500,000 voter registrations submitted since October 2025, officials said.

New polls: Dems lead

nearly all statewide races A new poll from the University of Texas at Austin shows Democrats with narrow leads in nearly all statewide races, the Houston Chronicle reported. However, polling in each statewide race is within the margin of error.

Only Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico polled positively with 50% of the voters.

James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project, said Democratic competitiveness is driven by a sizable gap in enthusiasm between Democratic and Republican voters — at least 10 percentage points.

“That’s really significant,” Henson said. “That is going to be what the last two weeks of this campaign are about — it’s about Republican campaigns trying to drive up Democratic negatives and trying to stir what is right now a pretty uninspired Republican electorate in the state.”

No Democrat has won a statewide race since 1994.

Abbott won’t debate Hinojosa

Incumbent GOP Gov. Greg Abbott said he is better off holding campaign stops around the state than facing his Democratic opponent Gina Hinojosa in a debate, the Houston Chronicle reported.

“The most important thing that a governor can do is to show up in communities,” Abbott said during a stop in Tyler. “What voters want to see and hear, they want to see their governor in their community. They want to have the ability to ask their governor questions.”

Abbott is seeking a fourth term. This is the first race in which he has not debated a Democratic gubernatorial challenger. Hinojosa held a news conference outside the Governor’s Mansion last week with side-by-side lecterns — one empty.

“It is really on-brand for Greg Abbott to spend more money to tell lies about me, rather than showing up in person to debate me,” Hinojosa said. “These lies are funded by his billionaire donors.”

State appealing order requiring AC in prisons Lawyers for the state have appealed a federal judge’s order that all state prison cells be climate-controlled before 2030. The appeal was filed with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Texas Standard reported.

The state also asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to suspend his order, arguing it could disrupt critical operations in the prison system while the appeal continues.

“Throwing chaos and confusion into TDCJ’s ongoing plans to install complete air-conditioning, before the Fifth Circuit has a chance to rule, needlessly wastes finite resources, and frustrates TDCJ’s efforts to acquire funding to address operational and life-safety measures to protect its population while moving...expediently to install air conditioning,” the filing said.

In September Pitman issued his ruling in a case filed by prison-rights advocacy groups. The groups argued that forcing inmates to endure triple-digit temperatures inside prison cells was unconstitutional. Just more than a third of the state’s prisons are climate-controlled, while 90,000 incarcerated Texans don’t have air conditioning.

The legal fight began with a 2023 complaint filed by Bernie Tiede, a high-profile inmate featured in the film “Bernie.”

Comptroller Huffines plans $3 million office renovation Republican Controller Don Huffines plans to use $3 million in funds from a state agency that manages and invests state revenues to renovate his offices, according to The Dallas Morning News. Records obtained by the paper show that Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co. would pay for the renovation of the comptroller’s executive suite.

Huffines is the GOP nominee for comptroller and was appointed by Abbott to serve out an unexpired term. He faces state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, in November. She called the proposed use of trust company funds “highly inappropriate.”

“The comptroller is supposed to keep those funds segregated,” she said. “You can’t raid it for operational expenses in the Comptroller’s Office.”

Since being appointed, Huffines has vowed to cut government spending; 41 comptroller employees were fired in recent weeks.

Home, auto insurance rates trending down Both homeowner and auto insurance companies have filed proposed premium rate decreases since July, according to the Texas Department of Insurance. The agency said the proposed decreases affect about 700,000 Texas policyholders.

Homeowner rate changes have averaged a 4.3% decline over the past 90 days, according to TDI.

“Lower rate filings are an encouraging sign for Texas consumers, and we’re pleased to see some relief beginning to reach the market,” said Insurance Commissioner Amanda Crawford. “As rates moderate, Texans should take advantage of the competitive market, shop around and make sure they’re getting the best value for their coverage.”

Nearly 160 companies sell auto and homeowners insurance in Texas.

Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park.

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