Texas Secretary of State unlikely to win confirmation as Democrats stand against him

Secretary of State David Whitley, center, attends his confirmation hearing, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in Austin, Texas, where he addressed the backlash surrounding Texas' efforts to find noncitizen voters on voter rolls. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) less Secretary of State David Whitley, center, attends his confirmation hearing, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in Austin, Texas, where he addressed the backlash surrounding Texas' efforts to find noncitizen voters on ... more Photo: Eric Gay, STF / Associated Press Photo: Eric Gay, STF / Associated Press Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Texas Secretary of State unlikely to win confirmation as Democrats stand against him 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Even after apologizing for errors in the rollout of an effort to remove non-citizens from voter rolls, the state’s top elections official’s job is still very much in doubt as all 12 Democrats in the Texas Senate have now announced they will oppose his appointment.

On Friday, Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, joined that list when she released a statement declaring she would not support embattled Secretary of State David Whitley’s nomination to remain Secretary of State.

“Unfortunately, through his actions and those of his office, acting Secretary Whitley failed to uphold the expectations of his position,” Alvarado said.

Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Whitley Secretary of State in December, but his appointment must be confirmed by two-thirds of the Texas Senate to retain the office. With all 12 Democrats of the 31-member Senate in opposition, Whitley would not have enough votes as it stands now.

Whitley was originally supposed to be voted on by the Senate Nominations Committee and sent to the full Senate on Feb. 14. But State Sen. Dawn Buckingham, a Central Texas Republican who chairs that committee, delayed the vote as opposition to Whitley grew. Two weeks later, Buckingham still has not put his confirmation on the agenda. A spokesman for Buckingham said she was unavailable to comment.

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In January, Whitley put out a press release that announced his office was forwarding the names of 95,000 potential non-citizens to county election officials with instructions for how to begin sending notices to those voters to remove them from the voting lists, if they were unable to prove their citizenship. In the statement, Whitley said 58,000 people on that list had voted in past elections — names that were being sent to the Texas Attorney General to be investigated for potential felony charges.

In his initial confirmation hearing on Feb. 7, Whitley defended his efforts and refused to say if any mistakes had been made. A week later, he issued a written apology to members of the Texas Legislature for how the non-citizen voter lists were rolled out. In that letter, Whitley said he knew his efforts to notify counties and the public caused “some confusion.”

“To the extent my actions missed that mark, I apologize,” Whitley wrote in the letter.

His office has been sued by voting rights advocacy groups and Democrats have demanded he rescind the original directives to counties, something they say is a form of voter suppression.

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