Judge blocks Texas governor’s restriction on mail ballot drop off
Texas #Texas
Pitman called the decision to have a single ballot drop-off location per county in the weeks leading up to the election “perplexing,” particularly since there will be multiple drop-off points per county on Election Day and since the state had already opened satellite drop-off locations within counties before the governor’s Oct. 1 proclamation.
The state immediately filed an appeal of the injunction, meaning a federal appeals court will now take up the issue.
Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a civil rights group that sued the state, said the governor “is trying to prey on the fear of the pandemic, which will keep Hispanics from wanting to risk their lives by going to the polls in person.”
LULAC had argued in court papers that the one drop-off point rule would be particularly onerous in a place like Harris County, where millions of Houston-area voters would have a single place to bring their ballots.
Pitman’s ruling also notes that the elderly and the ill would be particularly affected by the governor’s one drop-off site per county rule, because those voters may be more fearful than most to go to a place that has long lines and more potential exposure to the novel coronavirus.
Texas has seen decades of legal battles over voting rights, but the stakes are higher this year as more voters are expected to mail in their ballots due to concerns about the coronavirus.
Similar legal fights are occurring around the country over the rules and procedures of voting in a pandemic, as Republican state leaders seek limitations on voting procedures and access in the name of election security and Democrats fight those limits in the name of voting rights.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that there is a risk of massive voter fraud in mail-in ballots, and his campaign has already accused Democrats of trying to steal the election. Historically, mail-in ballot fraud has occurred in small, isolated batches surrounding local elections, but not on a large scale.