AUSTIN, Texas — The Travis County Elections Office has decided to process nearly 800 applications sent in from Vote.Org despite being deemed invalid by the Texas Secretary of State.

The website created a new service to allow potential voters to fill out a registration application online and attach a picture of their signature. The non-partisan organization then faxed over the applications to various elections offices across the state.

A spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State says the applications are not valid because they were submitted with digital signatures. He says Texas law requires wet signature, meaning ink on paper.

Travis County Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant originally questioned this process, but consulted the Travis County attorney to take a look at Texas law.

In the State of Texas, a registration application must be in writing and signed by the applicant. After the application is faxed, a copy of the registration application must be submitted by mail and be received by the registrar not later than the fourth business day after the transmission by fax.

The word copy is why the Travis County Elections Office will still process the applications.

"The Secretary of State has said that wasn't the intent of the statute and it was probably a mistake in language, but we have to follow the language of the statute. So, our legal counsel has recommended that we process these applications," Elfant said.

The Secretary of State issued the following statement:

“Our position has not changed – the law is the law. Our office provided immediate, ample, and clear guidance to county elections officials to ensure that any voters who were misled into submitting invalid applications online would still be registered legally. Officials who are advocates for online voter registration are advised to go through the legislative process rather than sidestepping state law and exposing invalid voter registrations to legal challenges. We are not instructing the counties to reject the applications. We are telling the counties to send a notice of incomplete back to the voter for lack of a signature. It will only be rejected if the voter doesn’t respond with a signed one within 10 days."