Texas Republicans are asking the Texas Supreme Court to invalidate curbside voting, reports the Austin American-Statesman.
The lawsuit, filed by two GOP candidates and a Texas Statehouse Republican lawmaker, argues that Texas Election Code does not recognize drive-thru voting. The lawsuit also asks the court to, “require all memory cards from the ten drive-thru voting locations be secured and not entered or downloaded into the Tally machine,” or invalidate all votes that have been cast at drive-thru voting locations.
The Texas Supreme Court said Harris County must respond to the lawsuit by Friday, according to the Statesman’s Chuck Lindell.
It’s not the first time Republicans in the state try to do away with curbside voting. Last week, the Texas Supreme Court dismissed two other similar lawsuits by the Texas and Harris County Republican Party. Considering those rulings, it’s unlikely this most recent lawsuit will stick, given that tens of thousands of Harris County residents have already cast their vote at drive-thru polling locations.
Despite the lack of absentee ballot expansion in Texas amid the pandemic (Texas is one of only five states to not expand vote-by-mail) and the state’s crackdown on county-level efforts to boost mail ballot numbers, turnout in Texas is seeing record-breaking levels.
On Friday, Texas officially surpassed its 2016 voter turnout, reaching more than 9 million votes cast via in-person early voting or through the mail. Early voting in Texas ends Friday.
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
