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Texas Acting Secretary of State David Whitley (right) resigned Monday, just months after the failed purge of nearly 100,000 non-citizens suspected of wrongfully targeting US citizens.
Whitley's departure came as the Texas Senate failed to confirm its position by a two-thirds majority on the last day of the legislative session. He presented his resignation letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott (MD), "effective immediately" just before the last hammer, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman. Abbott accepted his resignation shortly thereafter, renting his "moral character and integrity".
Neither the letter of resignation from Whitley nor that of Abbott mention the controversy.
"Working alongside the staff of the Secretary of State's office, county election officials and representatives of our first trading partner, Mexico, has been a distinct honor and privilege for me," said Whitley. 36, in his letter of resignation, reproduced by many locals. electrical outlets.
Whitley, a board member and former Abbott advisor, spent less than six months overseeing the Texas election. He will leave office primarily for the disastrous operation of integrity elections which wrongly identified thousands of naturalized citizens as non-citizens allegedly illegally registered to vote.
He revealed that the investigation took place in January, raising fears of widespread electoral fraud while encouraging Republican politicians who had made similar allegations of electoral fraud – including President Trump. Whitley's office claimed that out of 95,000 alleged non-citizens, 58,000 had participated in at least one election in Texas over the past 18 years. Letters sent to all alleged non-citizens threatened to deprive them of their right to vote if they did not prove their citizenship within 30 days.
But there was a problem: nearly a quarter of those identified as possible non-citizens were actually naturalized citizens – a finding made by the Secretary of State's office just four days after its initial announcement.
[Inaccurate claims of noncitizen voting in Texas reflect a growing trend in Republican states]
Many advocacy groups have filed lawsuits on behalf of threatened voters in three separate federal prosecutions, and the Congress has opened an investigation into alleged voter suppression efforts. In February, a federal judge prevented Texas from carrying out its efforts to purge "led" and "threatening" voters, saying there was no evidence of widespread fraud. The letters sent by the Secretary of State to thousands of eligible voters threatening to cancel their registration, wrote US District Judge Fred Biery, "illustrate the power of the government to bring fear and anxiety 'intimidate the less powerful among us'.
He put the blame on Whitley's shoulders, encouraging him to solve problems while evoking a lesson adapted to kindergarten children.
"The Court concludes and concludes that the Secretary of State created this disorder, although it may be unintentionally," wrote Biery in his order of February 27. "As Robert Fulghum taught in" All I really need to know, I learned in kindergarten, "" always put things where you found them and clean up our own mess. "
Texas has agreed to end its investigation of non-citizen voters as part of an April deal with human rights groups.
Democrats and civil rights groups praised Whitley's resignation Monday, declaring victory after months of coordinated efforts by at least 10 civil rights groups to oppose his appointment. "David Whitley lost the confidence of Texas voters when he tried to purge thousands of eligible voters," the Workers Defense Action Fund said in a statement. "It's a win for all voters."
While both houses of the Texas legislature are controlled by Republicans, there are just enough Democrats in the Senate to thwart a two-thirds majority vote. None of the 12 Democrats out of the 31 senators supported Whitley in his confirmation hearing in February.
"The reality is that Democrats have shown solidarity on this issue because of Whitley's position on the crackdown on voters," Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) told reporters Monday, Texas reported. Tribune.
West and civil rights groups also expressed concern that Whitley's mistakes in the investigation of ineligible voters had a disproportionate effect on minorities, as naturalized citizens are immigrants. As Biery noted, no citizen born in the country was wrongly threatened with being expelled from the voters lists; only new Americans were.
Worse, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) had threatened to bring suspected illegal voters to trial before voters on the list were confirmed. "ALERT TO YOUR FRAUD", he wrote on Twitter in January. Trump also took note of the question, tweeting"These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the country, especially in California, electoral fraud is widespread. Must be stopped. "
Whitley finally apologized to lawmakers for the fiasco a week after his confirmation hearing, claiming in a letter that the purpose of his "list retention process" – his review of voters' lists of non-citizens – was solely to ensure Electoral integrity. He said that he could have done a better job by checking all the voters on the list that it was non-citizens before making this announcement.
"I admit that this confused our intentions, which were aimed at maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the voters' lists at all times," he wrote. "To the extent that my actions have missed this target, I apologize."
Messages left at the Secretary of State's office and the Texas governor last Monday were not immediately returned.
Given the fact that the Texas Senate has not confirmed Whitley, Abbott will have to appoint a new Secretary of State who will hold this position pending confirmation from the legislator when the legislator will meet at its next session, in 2021 .
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