Federal Appeals Court Keeps Texas Ballot Drop-Off Location Limits

Texas counties remain limited to one drop-off location per county for mail-in ballots.

By Jill Ament & Terri LangfordOctober 12, 2020 7:30 am, , ,

A legal tussle over how Texas mail-in voters turn in their ballots appears to be over, for now. 

On Saturday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued an emergency stay to a lower federal court judge’s decision that Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to limit counties to a single drop-off location for mail-in ballots, was unconstitutional. 

Abbott has said his order was to prevent voter fraud when early voting starts on Tuesday. Voting rights advocates are calling in voter suppression.

“The governor’s assertion is that there will be more voter fraud if multiple locations are allowed to exist at county annexes and other offices,” Houston Chronicle state reporter Taylor Goldenstein told Texas Standard on Monday. 

She added that this argument was challenged by voting rights groups. 

“The plaintiffs have basically said that this is one of many, you know, acts of voter suppression by the governor lately through the use of these executive orders,” Goldenstein said. 

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