Texas AG candidate vows to probe Deloitte's role in voter registration delay

Texas state Senator Nathan Johnson, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, has announced plans to investigate contracts with external vendors, particularly Deloitte, following a significant delay in processing nearly 200,000 voter registration applications. The backlog is attributed to a software update installed by Deloitte on the servers of the Department of Public Safety.

Johnson, who represents Dallas County and has served in the state Senate since 2019, views the incident as indicative of a larger trend. He criticized Republican efforts to shrink state government and outsource essential functions to contractors. "I think the voter registration issue is absolutely not the whole story," Johnson told CNBC. "It’s just the leading edge that really ought to cause people to look hard at this larger phenomenon of outsourcing core state functions that really a major government like Texas ought to be able to handle."

The error was discovered in September, just over a month before the November elections. The Texas Secretary of State and county registrars are working to clear the backlog ahead of Election Day. The situation has raised concerns, especially as Texas is hosting some of the most closely watched elections in the country.

Deloitte has had multiple contracts with the state of Texas previously. According to the Texas Legislative Budget Board, Deloitte holds six active contracts with the Department of Public Safety totaling $84.46 million. Across the state government, Deloitte has 30 active contracts with 16 state agencies, valued at $2.02 billion.

Johnson is running against Republican candidate Mayes Middleton for the attorney general position. An August poll indicated Middleton held a 5 percentage point lead over Johnson. Deloitte did not immediately respond to requests for comment.