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Reuters
A record number of people are expected to vote absentee
A Texas judge has blocked an order allowing only one absentee ballot drop-off point per county, claiming it would affect older and disabled voters.
Drop-off points were established to allow voters to send their ballots in advance rather than relying on the postal service.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said the number of drop-off points needed to be minimized to ensure voter safety.
Democrats said the move was a blatant voter suppression.
A record number of people are expected to vote by mail in this year’s elections due to the pandemic.
The United States Postal Service has already warned that ballots may not arrive in time to be counted on Election Day, November 3.
Texas has a limit on who can request absentee ballots. Only voters age 65 or older, disabled, incarcerated, or out of town on Election Day can vote by mail.
Judge Robert Pitman ruled that the order would have left many voters having to travel long distances to find a drop-off point, or left them vulnerable to the coronavirus if they were forced to vote in person at a polling station.
Governor Abbott’s ruling would have meant that some people in Harris County, home to more than four million people, had only one location in the entire county to cast their ballot.
The race to claim the 38 votes of the Texas Electoral College in this election is expected to be close.
President Donald Trump has previously criticized vote-by-mail, claiming it is a widespread fraud. The Federal Elections Commission has rejected these claims.
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