Texas Moves To Appeal Federal Ruling On Mail-In Voting

AUSTIN, TX — The Texas attorney general on Saturday filed an emergency motion pending appeal after a federal judge barred officials from enforcing a gubernatorial order limiting the number of mail-in voting drop boxes to one per county.

The move by Attorney General Ken Paxton follows a Friday ruling by Austin federal judge Robert Pitman blocking a previous order by Gov. Greg Abbott allowing for a single drop-off box per county for residents mailing in their ballots. In limiting drop-off boxes, Abbott cited a need to "strengthen voting safety in Texas."

By early evening, Paxton reported that he had secured a temporary stay from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. “I commend the Fifth Circuit for temporarily staying the district court’s unlawful injunction while it considers our request for a full stay pending appeal. This ensures that the Governor’s Proclamation remains in effect.”

The governor's Oct. 1 order prompted numerous groups — the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, the state and national chapters of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the get-out-the-vote organization BigTent Creative and the League of Women Voters of Texas among them — to file lawsuits seeking to overturn the order. The litigants complained of the sudden shuttering of hundreds of drop-off sites that had opened this week resulting from the governor's order, painting Abbott's move as an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote — particularly among voters of color.

The federal judge agreed, calling the governor's last-minute action a "...burden on an already vulnerable voting population that is somewhere between slight and severe." The judge added in his ruling: "By limiting ballot return centers to one per county, older and disabled voters living in Texas's largest and most populous counties must travel further distances to more crowded ballot return centers where they would be at an increased risk of being infected by the coronavirus in order to exercise their right to vote and have it counted."

But now, Paxton seeks to overturn the judge's ruling. “The district court’s order undermines our election security, disrupts the democratic process, and will only lead to voter confusion," Paxton said in a prepared statement released on Saturday. "It cannot stand," he continued, labeling the judge's order as unlawful. "Mail-in ballots are particularly vulnerable to fraud. Protections that ensure their security must be upheld and my office will continue to fight for safe, free and fair elections.”

The GOP has long maintained mail-in ballots are ripe for fraud, but the assertion has been widely debunked. Some studies on the issue have calculated the incidence of voter fraud in Texas is less than the chances of a person being struck by lightning.

Paxton furthered the voter fraud argument in his statement, saying the ruling "...creates confusion on the eve of an election and threatens the integrity of the election." The governor's proclamation, Paxton continued, "...enhances ballot security by requiring those eligible voters who choose to hand-deliver their ballots to go to a single early voting clerk’s office as publicly designated by a county’s early voting clerk."

The Texas Alliance for Retired Americans had celebrated the judge's ruling following their Oct. 3 lawsuit co-filed with BigTent Creative, which is working to register and encourage young Texans to vote. Officials had assessed the governor's single-drop-off order as nothing short of suppressing the vote.

“Gov. Abbott’s intervention was a blatant act of voter suppression," Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a previous prepared statement. "We are gratified that the Circuit Court recognized that. Older Texans have borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic in Texas, and they should not have to stand in long lines to deliver a ballot so they will be assured it will count.”

Added Ysiad Ferreiras, CEO of Bigtent Creative: “We appreciate the swift decision from the Circuit Court that will help protect the rights of millions of young Texans to have their voices heard this election. As an organization investing in, reaching, and mobilizing young voters of color, we know there is an active group of concerned Gen Z voters in Texas that are ready to stand up for change in the state. These are young people who would have otherwise been silenced by the governor’s executive order.”

Texas Democrats also had hailed the judge's ruling. In a Friday prepared statement, the group said Abbott's actions constituted an "...unlawful attempt t0 suppress Texas voters by cutting mail-in hand delivery locations."

Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa added: “Gov. Abbott’s attempt to suppress Texas voters has been thwarted. Judge Pitman’s common sense order followed well-established law and stopped the governor from making up election rules after the election started. Frankly, it ought to be a shock to all of us that such a ruling is even required."