Judge Rules Against Texas Limit Of One Drop-Off Site Per County For Absentee Ballots

Barbara Campbell

October 09, 2020 / 9:10 pm

caption: An election worker accepts a mail-in ballot from a voter at a Houston drop-off site on Wednesday. A federal judge blocked Gov. Greg Abbott's order limiting one drop-off site per county late Friday.

A federal judge has blocked a Texas plan to limit voters to one location per county for dropping off absentee ballots in the upcoming election. The decision says the restriction places an undue burden on older and disabled citizens.

The limit was imposed last week as Texas experienced a surge in requests for absentee ballots, even though most Texans aren't eligible to vote that way.

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said he was helping to protect election security by allowing only one drop-off site per county. Democrats accused Abbott of trying to suppress the vote.

Judge Robert Pitman's ruling sides with The Texas League of United Latin American Citizens, which sued to get the drop-off limit reversed.

The lawsuit said the governor was forcing absentee voters to travel farther and to more-crowded locations, increasing the risk to populations already especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. The suit also said the Postal Service has warned it might not be able to deliver ballots in time to be counted.