Judge won’t allow those with COVID to cast votes online

A state district judge on Friday denied a request by Harris County Clerk Christopher Hollins to allow thousands of voters who recently tested positive for coronavirus, and now are quarantined, to vote online in the primary runoff election.

The novel voting method never has been used in Harris County but was permitted for the small-scale North Texas Ebola outbreak in 2014.

Judge Larry Weiman, however, said he shared concerns raised by the Harris County Republican Party that online voting was not secure. Weiman, a Democrat, also said at the emergency telephone hearing that the county clerk had not produced an example of a voter being disenfranchised by exposure to coronavirus.

“The plaintiff hasn’t shown any injured party,” Weiman said.

Hollins sought to allow the estimated 10,000 residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 after the July 2 deadline to apply for a mail ballot. Forcing infected residents to vote in person would put “thousands of other voters at risk,” County Attorney Vince Ryan wrote in the clerk’s court filing.

“The effect of this is to leave thousands of Harris County voters with a choice: 1, violate their quarantine and risk exposing poll workers and other voters to a deadly virus, or 2, become disenfranchised and lose their constitutional right to vote,” Ryan said. “That is a choice no Texan should be forced to make.”

Hollins said before the hearing he has a responsibility to help every eligible voter cast a ballot safely.

Since March, COVID-19 has infected 40,900 Harris County residents and killed 423, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis. The average daily number of new cases has risen steadily since Memorial Day.

“Sick voters, those who have COVID, or have been exposed to COVID, certainly fall into the cat

“That is a choice no Texan should be forced to make.”

Court Attorney Vince Ryan

egory of people whose right to vote we need to protect,” Hollins said.

If email voting was successful in the July primary runoff, Hollins said he would seek to employ that method for ill voters in November, if the pandemic still poses a serious threat to the public.

The Harris County Republican Party and Texas Attorney General’s office argued against the plan. Assistant Attorney General Anne Mackin said Hollins’ proposal amounted to a “rewrite of the Texas Election Code,” which already provides ill voters a method to vote by mail after missing the application deadline, so long as they are able to physically produce a doctor’s note.

Hollins sought to have that requirement waived in favor of an emailed statement certifying a voter has been exposed to COVID, saying infected residents or members of their household risk infecting county employees by delivering a form to a public building.

“It’s inappropriate to substitute a new process,” Mackin said.

The Election Code permits counties to receive emailed ballots from some active duty members of the military stationed overseas. Attorney and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Baytown, and attorney Kevin Fulton argued on behalf of the Republicans that method requires

service members to use secure email addresses which allow elections administrators to verify their identities.

Weiman said he shared these concerns about security. He invited the Texas Legislature to make changes to the Election Code if lawmakers feel they are needed.

Hollins said Harris County’s request follows COVID-19 elections guidance issued in April by Secretary of State Ruth Hughs, which said counties may want to consider seeking court orders to expand voting options for quarantined voters. A spokesman for the secretary of state did not respond to a request for comment.

The Harris County Democratic

Party supported the vote-by-email idea.

“I think that it’s a great step in the right direction of ensuring no voter has to choose between their health and their right to vote,” party Chairwoman Lillie Schecter said.

Since taking office last month, Hollins has pledged to improve how Harris County runs elections after mistakes made by his predecessor. His office sent out mail ballot applications to every voter over 65 in the hopes of encouraging more voters to avoid polling places during the pandemic.

Early voting for the primary runoffs ended Friday. Election Day is Tuesday.