Ed Castillo/Houston Public Media Less than two weeks ago, the Harris County Tax Office reported having more than 21,000 pending voter registration applications. Now, as early voting began Monday for the Nov. 4 election, that number is down to 73 as an apparent issue with the state’s new software has been resolved.

Annette Ramirez, the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar, told Houston Public Media on Friday that the issue began July 1, when the Texas Secretary of State's office began rolling out its new update to the Texas Election Administration Management (TEAM) system.

Many counties, including Harris County, were asked by the secretary of state's office to hold their voter registration applications for several weeks, Ramirez said.

"Although they rolled out the

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