EDITORIAL
State should have better managed charges of illegal voting in election
Citizens of Texas should not feel comfortable when the chief election officer of the state cannot apologize for past mistakes. In Secretary of State David Whitley’s case, his “voter fraud” alert in January was proven erroneous by the diligent service of county employees.
Whitley wrongly surmised from Texas Department of Public Safety records that, of the 95,000 registered voters flagged as potentially being noncitizens, 58,000 of them had voted.
One would think that the chief election officer, who is tasked with ensuring election laws are interpreted fairly would do his due diligence, double and triple check data before sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who appointed Whitley, and then passing it on to Attorney General Ken Paxton, who immediately used it as a divisive issue to stoke fears about fraudulent voting.
In a fair government, one would think that the elected officials would double and triple check the data before sounding the alarm bells of voter fraud.
Luckily, the Milam County clerk’s office employees are not political, but simply hard working public servants.
In January, the clerks’ office received a letter informing them that eight people in the county were noncitizens and may have voted illegally. The county clerks office sent a letter out to those eight citizens asking them to confirm their citizenship.
The next day the office received four additional names. Later the same day the Secretary of State’s office called to inform the county clerk’s office that all 12 of those names were legal and a coding error was the reason for the mistake. The clerk’s office was advised to send a rescinding letter to those eight residents.
This mistake could have been avoided and not become a politicized issue by the Secretary of State. Through this false stoking of fears of voter fraud, citizens get the idea that minority votes mean fraudulent votes.
It could easily be seen as a tactic to intimidate minority voters and suppress votes from a certain demographic bloc.
Four days after sending out the list Whitley’s office retracted 20,000 names from the list but the damage had already been done, according to a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups against the state and seven county election officials. The lawsuit charges the Secretary of State with suppressing naturalized citizens fundamental right to vote.
Abbott stood by his appointee. When questioned about the fiasco he told a reporter, “We need to find better and smoother ways of effectuating this so it doesn’t cause so much of a commotion.”
During Whitley’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Nominations Committee, Feb. 7, he did not apologize for the mistake but merely stated that he learned a lot during the process and seemed to blame his public relations department for sending out a faulty news release.
Later, when the committee postponed his confirmation, he sent the members a letter of apology, which was obtained by the Texas Tribune.
“I recognize this caused some confusion about our intentions, which were at all times aimed at maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the voter rolls,” Whitley wrote. “To the extent my actions missed that mark, I apologize.”
Whitley still needs to be confirmed by the senate in order to serve. Still one thing is clear. In the two and a half short months he has held the position, he has managed to anger citizens, create extra unnecessary work for county employees and embarrass our state.
His office should be concerned with encouraging more Texans to take part in the electoral process, not potentially suppress votes from those who are legally allowed to take part in democracy.–C.G.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.