Voter registration deadline nearing
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election is Oct. 5. Early voting starts Oct. 19 and runs through Oct. 30, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
The last day for an application to vote by mail must be received by Friday, Oct. 23.Voters can visit votetexas.gov to confirm they are registered to vote, see what is on the ballot where they live, and get other election-related information. That site is maintained by the Texas Secretary of State.Meanwhile, The Texas Tribune reported that an unknown number of voter registration applications were delayed because of an error by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The agency failed to forward the applications, submitted online through its driver’s license portal, to county voter registrars.
Texas Democrats have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to investigate the problem.
With the Oct. 5 deadline approaching, the delayed registrations from DPS could add to processing backlogs at affected counties. A spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office said affected voters can still have their ballots counted as long as they submitted their registration before Oct. 5.
The DPS portal accounted for about 6 million voter registrations from 2020 to 2024. Texas has more than 18 million registered voters.
Camp Mystic under criminal investigation
Camp Mystic, the Hill Country girls’ summer camp where 28 people died in the July 2025 floods, is under criminal investigation by the Texas Rangers, kut.org reported. Fourteen search warrants were executed against family and staff members who ran the camp. KUT News obtained a copy of the affidavit filed against Tweety Eastland, whose husband, Dick, was one of the 28 who died.
The affidavit states the Rangers have probable cause to believe the camp’s leaders committed a number of criminal offenses, including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, injury to a child, deadly conduct, and abandoning or endangering a child.
“These offenses were committed against child campers—including both deceased victims and surviving campers of the flood event,” Brant Johnston, an investigator with the Texas Rangers, wrote in the document.
The affidavits are intended to allow the Rangers to obtain electronic data from Tweety and other members of the Eastland family that owns the camp, as well as camp staff members. A Kerr County state district judge approved it earlier this month.
Camp Mystic’s owners are being sued in civil court by more than a dozen families.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. Email: [email protected]