Texas’ election chief denies mistakes over noncitizen list

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ election chief denies his office made mistakes over a list of 95,000 voters whose U.S. citizenship was called into question but included thousands of wrongly flagged names.

Secretary of State David Whitley is expected to publicly address the backlash surrounding Texas’ efforts to find noncitizens on voter rolls for the first time during his confirmation hearing this week.

On Tuesday, Whitley attended the State of the State address of his former boss, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Asked by a reporter if his office made any mistakes, Whitley said no but declined further comment.

Texas officials say they matched registered voters against records of noncitizens with state IDs. But county officials say that list included scores of voters who legally cast ballots after becoming citizens.

Whitley’s confirmation hearing is Thursday.