Worley was born in New Hope, Alabama. Worley received a B.A. degree from the University of Montevallo and an M.A. from Jacksonville State University. She has served on many commissions across the state of Alabama as an advocate for educators and women. Worley taught for 25 years in the Decatur School System, and served two terms as the president of the Alabama Education Association from 1983-1984 and 1995-1997. She has won various teaching awards including Teacher of the Year; a Teacher Hall of Fame nominee; honored by the Alabama Jaycees as Alabama’s Outstanding Young Educator; and Good Housekeeping’s "100 Young Women of Promise." She served as Alabama Secretary of State from 2003 to 2007. In the 2006 general election, she was defeated for re-election by then-State Auditor Beth Chapman. Worley's tenure as Secretary of State included substantial reforms, including longer and uniform polling hours, voter identification, and automatic recounts in close races. Worley was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury in March 2007 on five misdemeanor and one felony charge. The charges, resulting from an investigation by the Alabama Attorney General, accuse Worley of soliciting support from five of her employees during her unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2006. A few days after the trial started, the presiding judge dropped the felony charge, and indefinitely postponed the trial of related misdemeanor charges. In October, 2012, Worley plead guilty via a "best interest" plea on one misdemeanor count and agreed to pay a $100 fine. Worley's lawyers revealed a letter, sent by State TreasurerKay Ivey to her employees, soliciting campaign contributions for the 2008 presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Ivey was the Alabama chairwoman of Romney's campaign. Worley's lawyers pointed out that King had not prosecuted fellow Republican Ivey, as he had Worley. She was elected in 2013 by the Alabama Democratic Party to be chairperson of the party in the Republican-dominated state, having previously served as interim Chair since April 2013 and Vice Chair since January 2007. In July 2015, Worley, five other former AEA presidents, and former AEA Associate Executive Secretary Joe L. Reed, accused the National Education Association of violating its bylaws and overstepping its role in regards to the AEA. In August 2019, Worley and Deputy Chair Randy Kelley were stripped of their credentials as members of the Democratic National Committee for not complying with DNC demands for revisions to the ADP bylaws. On November 2nd, 2019 Worley was removed as the chair with a unanimous vote. Worley and her role in the controversial election and preceding events were the subject of a three-part series entitled "The Real Enemy," produced by Emmanuel Dzotsi for the podcast Reply All.
