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Barbara Campbell, NPR

October 10, 2020 6:40 AM

Judge rules against Texas limit of one drop-off site per county for absentee ballots

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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. — 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.
Go Nakamura | Getty Images

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 announced that 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 League of United Latin American Citizens which sued to get the drop-off limit reversed.

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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.

The state may appeal the ruling.

Texas is one of just five states not allowing widespread mail-in voting this year. Polls show unusually tight races in America’s biggest red state and Democrats could take over the state House of Representatives for the first time in 20 years.

Courts have sided with GOP leaders who say fear of catching COVID-19 doesn’t qualify voters to receive mail-in ballots. To qualify for a mail-in ballot in Texas, voters generally must be 65 years older, out of their county on Election Day or disabled.

Nowhere in Texas lost more drop-off sites than Harris County, which includes Houston and is home to 5 million people. The county — a key battleground in Texas — was forced to close 11 drop-off locations. On Wednesday, the Texas Supreme Court also ruled that Houston elections officials could not send unsolicited mail ballot applications to 2 million registered voters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.