AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas’ embattled elections chief is on the brink of losing his job over wrongly questioning the U.S. citizenship of thousands of voters.
Secretary of State David Whitley on Sunday was set to be forced from office unless the Texas Senate confirms his nomination. But that prospect was dimming as Democrats were blocking a vote on the eve of the Legislature adjourning until 2021.
Whitley’s office was behind a bungled scouring of voter rolls that reignited accusations of voter suppression in Texas. Elections officials identified nearly 100,000 voters flagged as potential noncitizens, but the data was deeply flawed.
Backlash over the botched search was among the few fireworks of an unusually mild legislative session in Texas. Republicans largely sidestepped divisive issues with their GOP majority potentially at risk in 2020.
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