Texas Republicans lose bid to halt drive-thru voting

A group of Texas Republicans has lost one of two legal challenges it brought in the hope of halting drive- thru voting in Houston and having more than 120,000 votes thrown out.

In a brief order issued on Sunday, the Texas Supreme Court denied a request by conservative activist Steven Hotze and others for an order that drive- thru voting violates Texas election law.

A nearly identical case brought by the same plaintiffs is pending in federal court. The judge assigned to that case has scheduled an emergency hearing for Monday morning.

“Tomorrow we will be in front of a federal judge who will have an opportunity to review the federal claims we have asserted,” Jared Woodfill, a lawyer for Hotze, said in an email. Woodfill added that his clients may eventually take their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Democratic- leaning Harris County, home to about 4.7 million people, is the third most populous county in the United States. It currently has 10 drive- thru polling sites, which are available to all voters.

Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins has called drive-thru voting a safe alternative to in- person voting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Texas, the second largest U. S. state, is traditionally Republican, but polls show a close race between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden with more than nine million ballots already cast, eclipsing the state’s total turnout from the 2016 presidential election.

Sunday’s order came as little surprise after the state’s supreme court on Oct. 22 denied a similar request to halt drive-thru voting, in a lawsuit filed by the Republican parties of Texas and Harris County.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston is due to hold an emergency hearing on Monday in the federal court action brought by Hotze and other plaintiffs, who include state Representative Steve Toth, a Republican.

They want Hanen to direct officials to halt drive-thru voting and reject the roughly 127,000 ballots that have already been cast at 10 drivethru voting sites.

The request to void votes is “wholly unreasonable,” Democratic groups, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on Friday in a motion asking to intervene in the case.