A federal judge blocked an order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that restricted the number of locations where voters can hand-deliver mail-in ballots …
A federal judge blocked an order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that restricted the number of locations where voters can hand-deliver mail-in ballots in each county a month before the election. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman ordered on Friday that the state is barred from implementing or enforcing the Republican governor’s order, arguing that it would put vulnerable voters at risk. Those eligible to vote early by mail in Texas must be 65 years or older, be sick or disabled, be out of their county on voting days or be confined in jail but otherwise eligible. «By limiting ballot return centers to one per county, older and disabled voters living in Texas’s largest and most populous counties must travel further distances to more crowded ballot return centers where they would be at an increased risk of being infected by the coronavirus in order to exercise their right to vote and have it counted,» Pitman wrote. The judge also wrote that voters run the risk of disenfranchisement «if the USPS is unable to deliver their ballots in time.» Pitman issued the injunction against Abbott’s Oct.1 proclamation, which limited the number of locations where eligible voters could deliver their mail-in ballots to a single early voting clerk’s office, regardless of county size, effective the following day.
