TEXAS — Nearly 13% of voters have their registration in suspense, an increase from this time in previous presidential election cycles. Of the 17 million registered voters in Texas, 2.1 million have a suspended status. 

“It’s a reason why everybody should go check their voter registration before they go to vote,” said Joyce LeBombard with League of Women Voters of Texas.

State law allows registered voters in a county to challenge the voter registration status of other voters in that same county. Conservative group True the Vote is accused of being responsible for an increase in the number of challenges to voter registrations in Texas. The group did not respond to request for comment.

“We need to get accurate rolls so that we can have an accurate election in November,” said True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht.

True the Vote manages IV3, a website that matches voter data with change-of-address records from the U.S. Postal Service. But elections experts say those records don’t always mean someone has permanently moved. 

“We will happily accept voter registration challenges, but they need to follow the law,” said Chris Davis, Travis County Voter Registration Division director.

Two key components of voter registration challenges are a personal corroboration of the change of address by the challenger, and the challenges must be signed as a sworn testimony.

In Travis County, 17% of registered voters have accounts in suspense. Election officials routinely check voter rolls and verify voters' addresses every two years with a mass mail-out.

“Some of those will get or somebody, folks will correct their address, but a lot of them, they’ll be coming back as undeliverable,” said Davis.

An undeliverable will also result in a suspense registration. Critics of the mass voter roll challenges say the filings are an extra burden for election officials headed into November’s election.

“So I know some election administrators are basically ignoring those challenges that are being brought. Others are trying to confirm it, confirm whether or not there is an issue,” said LeBombard.

Federal law prevents election officials from canceling a voter’s registration 90 days ahead of an election. Voters with a suspended status can still vote, but will be removed from the rolls if two election cycles are missed.