Tarrant County’s voter rolls hit a bizarre snag after elections officials admitted this week that a data vendor wrongly flagged more than 200 living registered voters as dead, triggering mailed notices that could have led to their removal from the rolls. Even so, the county commissioners court voted Tuesday to renew a one‑year contract with Interactive Data LLC while elections staff sort through the faulty matches and try to fix the mess ahead of a crowded election calendar.
According to the Fort Worth Report, the issues stretch back to summer 2025, and county meeting records show Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig reporting that 214 voters who received the letters have since confirmed they are very much alive. Several residents told reporters they were blindsided by mail asking them to prove they were not deceased, and in some cases, voters ended up casting provisional ballots when poll workers could not find their names on the rolls.
Yesterday, commissioners approved the renewal on a 3-1 vote. During the meeting, Ludwig defended the office’s overall performance, noting that “With a voter base of roughly 1.3 million, 100% accuracy isn't achievable,” according to meeting notes. County procurement files for Bid No. F2025121 describes the work as part of an annual skip‑tracing contract with Interactive Data LLC, and the county’s payment register shows the vendor received roughly $45,000 last year. Renewal clauses keep the agreement in place through July 2027, details that appear in the Tarrant County meeting packet and the county payment register.
How the county flags and notifies voters
The elections office leans on a mix of commercial and government databases to cross‑check voter registrations. When a record appears to match someone listed as deceased, the county sends a “notice of examination” to that address and asks the voter to confirm their status within 30 days. If that letter comes back without a forwarding address, the registration can be moved off the active rolls, according to reporting from KERA and other local coverage.
If you’re told you’re dead
Officials say anyone who receives a mistaken “you’re dead” notice should immediately contact their voter registrar and still has the right to cast a provisional ballot at the polls. Those provisional ballots go through a review process, and if the person is eligible, the county can restore the registration. “If a voter is mistakenly removed, they can notify the voter registrar, and their registration will be reinstated with immediate effect,” a Texas Secretary of State spokesperson told KERA.
Why experts are worried
Political scientists and voting‑rights advocates warn that automated matching systems and reliance on third‑party databases are ripe for false positives, which can fall hardest on certain communities and discourage people from voting at all. A joint investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found that expanded federal verification tools have, in some cases, wrongly labeled eligible voters as noncitizens and forced them into burdensome, confusing steps to clear their names.
What happens next
County staff says they will keep auditing the vendor’s matches and follow state procedures to correct any errors that surface. Voters who want to double‑check their own status can use the state’s online system at goelect.txelections.civixapps.com or contact Tarrant County Elections directly for help.
