AUSTIN (AP) — A federal appeals court has reinstated a limit on the number of mail-in ballot drop-off locations in Texas, although Gov. Greg Abbott and a federal judge came under criticism for trying to sidestep the Legislature to alter state election law.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday issued a stay of a federal judge’s ruling on Friday that the Republican governor's order is a likely violation of a voter’s right to vote. Early voting started Tuesday in Texas.
“Leaving the Governor’s October 1 Proclamation in place still gives Texas absentee voters many ways to cast their ballots in the November 3 election," Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote in the opinion. "These methods for remote voting outstrip what Texas law previously permitted in a pre-COVID world. The October 1 Proclamation abridges no one’s right to vote.”
