AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate Committee on Nominations met for the third time Thursday morning and members left a key nomination pending: Secretary of State.
Political insiders speculate there aren't enough votes in the full Senate to confirm Governor Greg Abbott's appointee for the job, David Whitley. So, Whitley's nomination is hung up in committee.
Appointments need a two-thirds majority vote to be confirmed. So, it would take all 19 Republicans in the Senate, plus two Democrats to confirm Whitley.
The Senate Committee on Nominations held Whitley's confirmation hearing two weeks ago on February 7. During the two-hour long hearing, senators grilled him over the list his office compiled questioning the citizenship status of tens of thousands of registered voters.
It turns out, thousands of the people on the list are in fact citizens.
The Nominations Committee has now met twice since that first hearing and still hasn't voted to send his nomination to the full Senate for a vote.
Meanwhile, representatives from more than 30 civil rights and community groups delivered letters to Senate Democrats Thursday, calling on them to block Whitley's confirmation.
"This is an important office," Mimi Marziani, President of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said during a news conference Thursday morning. "This is the office that oversees the mechanisms of our elections. If the mechanisms of our elections do not work, our democracy does not work. If our democracy does not work, our elected officials are not going to be accountable to us, the people of Texas."
Several leaders of the groups at the news conference noted their organizations have never weighed in on a nomination, making this an unprecedented effort to stop an appointment. Many said they decided to take a stand because they believe Whitley's list was an attempted act of voter suppression.
Three lawsuits have already been filed against Whitley because of the list and one of the cases was heard in federal court in San Antonio earlier this week.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: