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Elections Committee Chair: Texas Secretary of State non-voter list is "normal part" of job

Rep Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth) standing by Secretary of State David Whitley in ongoing controversy

AUSTIN, Texas — State Representative Stephanie Klick, who chairs the House Elections Committee, is standing behind Texas Secretary of State David Whitley amid continued fallout over a flawed list, once purporting to have on it the names 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote in Texas.

Large parts of that list have been proven to be wrong with multiple counties coming forward to say voters who were “flagged” are in fact citizens. Whitley has faced criticism, building to a rocky State Senate confirmation. A vote on his nomination was rescheduled, Monday.

“It was not really surprising. the reason why is local officials are going to have access to information that someone hundreds of miles away in Austin are not going to have,” said Klick, when asked what she first thought when reading that the list had errors.

“They do list maintenance all the time,” Klick added. She chairs the House committee that oversees the Secretary of State office and was a party chair with an extensive elections background, prior to her election to her election in 2013.

Klick’s response to the list controversy is somewhat different than her colleagues. Whitley has received bipartisan criticism for his handling of the list’s release and the state’s decision to release to the media a total number of suspected non-citizen voters, without first checking the list by each county.

“I know that with list maintenance, that sometimes your going to have individuals with the same name that are going to show up on a list,” she told KAGS. “You're going to have to do your due diligence and your research to make sure which John Smith it is.”

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