AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The nomination of embattled Secretary of State David Whitley is moving forward a day after a federal judge blamed him for wrongly questioning the U.S. citizenship of tens of thousands of voters.
A Senate committee voted 4-3 along party lines Thursday to send his nomination to the full chamber.
However,Democrats have signaled they have enough to votes to ultimately reject Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s choice for chief elections officer.
Whitley’s future has been in jeopardy since his office released a deeply flawed list of 98,000 registered voters identified as potential non-citizens.
The list fueled Republican claims of potential voter fraud but failed to exclude scores of naturalized U.S. citizens.
A federal judge Wednesday ruled that Whitley “created this mess”, said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud and blocked the removal of any registered voters.
Copyright 2019. Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
