The court found that Abbott’s intention was to make it easier for Texans to vote.
What happened: A federal appeals court has reinstated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order limiting the use of absentee ballot drop boxes to one location per county, regardless of population.
Just before midnight Monday Texas time, a unanimous three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a district judge’s preliminary injunction against Abbott’s October 1 directive.
Fifth Circuit Judge Stuart Duncan said the lower court erred by failing to view the governor’s order as part of a broader initiative aimed at making it easier for Texans to vote amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Critics were clearly clueless about the legality of my action & simply voiced prejudicial political opinions,” Abbott wrote in a celebratory tweet.
The background: Civil rights groups and Democrats complained that the one-dropbox-location-per-county rule that Abbott abruptly imposed two weeks ago unfairly burdens large urban counties and has the potential to deter voters and create health hazards.
However, Duncan said the rule would have a “de minimis” impact on voters, at most.
“One strains to see how it burdens voting at all,” wrote Duncan, joined by Judges Don Willett and James Ho. All three judges are appointees of President Donald Trump.
“The October 1 Proclamation was part of an expansion of absentee voting opportunities beyond what the Texas Election Code provided. The fact that this expansion is not as broad as Plaintiffs would wish does not mean that it has illegally limited their voting rights,” Duncan added.
The judge’s 20-page opinion also noted that Texas law normally allows hand-delivery of absentee ballots only on Election Day, but voters will have a 40-day window to do so this year and retain the right to send ballots by mail.
In issuing the injunction last week, Austin-based U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman said
the “about-face” by Abbott from a July order threatened to disenfranchise disabled and elderly voters who would now have to travel longer distances to drop off their ballots. The judge also said postal service delays and changes created doubts about whether mailed ballots would arrive in time to be counted.
What’s next: Civil rights groups and minority state legislators who pressed the federal suit against Abbott’s order could ask the full bench of the appeals court to take up the issue, but their appeal is unlikely to find traction with the conservative court.
……..
- Discussion
-
A federal appeals court has reinstated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order limiting the use of absentee ballot drop boxes to one location per county, regardless of population https://t.co/fCgebc583Y
— POLITICO (@politico) October 13, 2020
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.