After Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos stepped down and Gov. Greg Abbott appointed David Whitley, his former Deputy Chief of Staff, to the position, grassroots leaders are imploring Abbott and Whitley to enforce election law and tamp down on voter fraud.
As Secretary of State, one of Whitley’s central responsibilities is serving as the state’s chief election officer.
A coalition of 136 conservative leaders from across the state signed onto a letter, led by Tyler-based Grassroots America We The People and watchdog group Direct Action Texas, urging the following set of actions from Whitley and Abbott:
- Have our statewide voter registration database, the Texas Election Administration Management (TEAM) system, checked against Department of Public Safety database records to ensure that non-citizens are not registered to vote.
- Remove illegal voters by comparing registration records against the DPS database so that only legal voters cast ballots in Texas elections.
- Utilize an interstate crosscheck to make sure voters are not registered in multiple states. Texas Election Code (TEC) Section 18.062 instructs the Secretary to opt into an interstate crosscheck program. The Secretary must make use of one of the available interstate crosschecks currently in place, the Electronic Registration Information Center, the Interstate Crosscheck Program, or Kansas’ system.
- Keep our voter rolls clear of voters who have moved, are deceased, or are otherwise ineligible. Immediately end the practice of issuing waivers that suspend Texas election laws. This practice violates the Texas Constitution Article 1, Section 28, “No power of suspending laws in this State shall be exercised except by the Legislature.” Stop the unconstitutional waivers and ensure all counties uniformly:
- Print complete zero tapes directly prior to the opening of polls for early voting and on Election Day – Tx Admin. Code Rule § 81.52(h).
- Print complete results tapes/precinct returns directly when polls close for early voting and on election day – Tx. Elec. Code §§66.022(1), 66.023(1), and 66.024(1)
- Perform post-election partial manual recounts – Tx. Elec. Code 127.01
- Cease the use of internet connectivity for all computers used in central counting stations where votes are being counted – Tx. Elec. Code 129.054(a)
- Sequentially number all ballots – Tx. Constitution and Elec. Code 52.062.
The letter comes after investigations by Direct Action Texas have uncovered incidences of voter fraud across the state, as well as hundreds of thousands of ineligible voters currently on the Texas voter rolls.
The entire letter may be read here.
