Texas drive-through voting upheld as judge blocks Republican bid to reject ballots
HOUSTON, (Reuters) -A federal judge in Texas yesterday denied an attempt by Republicans to throw out about 127,000 votes already cast in the U.S. presidential election at drive-through voting sites in Houston, a Democraticleaning area.
The plaintiffs had accused Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, a Democrat, of acting illegally when he allowed drive-through voting as an alternative during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a written order, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen said the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case and waited too long to sue.
"To disenfranchise over 120,000 voters who voted as instructed the day before the scheduled election does not serve the public interest," the judge wrote.
The judge said drivethrough early voting was permissible under Texas law.
In a narrow setback for Harris County officials, Hanen said drive-through voting on Election Day likely violated Texas law. But he did not halt it because the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the claim. Jared Woodfill, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told reporters they will appeal to the U. S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. They will also appeal a similar loss in state court on Sunday to the U. S. Supreme Court, Woodfill said. Hollins told reporters that drive-through voting sites in Harris County, which includes Houston, would be open on Election Day as scheduled. "This is a huge win for democracy, especially at a time when it appears that democracy itself is on the ballot," Hollins said.
Harris County, home to about 4.7 million people, is the third- most populous county in the United
States. It currently has 10 drive-through polling sites available to all voters among 800 total voting places.
Texas, the secondlargest U.S. state, is traditionally a Republican stronghold but polls show a tight race this year between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden with more than 9 million ballots already cast, eclipsing the state's total turnout in the 2016 presidential election.
The Texas Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a nearly identical bid by the same plaintiffs, who include conservative activist Steve Hotze and judicial candidate Sharon Hemphill, to halt drivethrough voting in Harris County. The same court also previously denied similar challenges brought by the Texas Republican Party and the Harris County Republican Party.
The lawsuits asserted that the county did not have the authority to decide election procedures and that drive-through voting violated the U. S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause because voters in other Texas counties do not have the chance to take part in drivethrough voting.
Hundreds of legal challenges have been brought in the months leading up to Tuesday's Election Day over how Americans can cast their ballots. Democrats have generally tried to ease access to mailin and other alternatives to in- person voting, while Trump has repeatedly made unfounded attacks on mail-in voting, claiming it leads to fraud.
In Nevada, a judge on Monday dealt another setback to Republicans who had filed a lawsuit claiming ballot-counting measures in Clark County, home to Las Vegas, were plagued by problems. The ruling found the plaintiffs lacked standing and had failed to present evidence that the procedures had led to counting of fraudulent votes.