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The hearing in the #Texas drive-thru voters case is scheduled to get started now, 10:30 CST. Here’s a quick thread on what you need to know. /1
Harris County came up with drive-thru voting as a response to peaking COVID19 numbers this summer. It held stakeholder meetings. The Republican Party attended. The SOS approved the plan. A pilot run in the July primary got rave reviews. /2
The county approved plans and funding for 10 sites in August for the general. 126,912 voters voted at drive-thru stations during early voting. Only now--months later--are Republicans suing.
Why? Texas has become competitive. Biden is up in some polls. /3
Why? Texas has become competitive. Biden is up in some polls. /3
The Republican challengers' legal argument is very, very bad. They argue that state law permits curbside voting only for people who are sick, disabled. /4
But drive-thru voting ISN’T “curbside voting.” These are fully functional polling stations, where people drive into stationary metal-and-tent structures, show photo ID, sign the roster, and then are handed a machine to vote in private. Poll watchers can be present. /5
Also, even if this were curbside voting, the statute says any voter who is “physically unable to enter the polling place without…likelihood of injuring the voter’s health" can vote curbside. That would seem to apply to anyone who has concerns about contracting COVID19. /6
The state supreme court has twice rejected this hail mary play. Rs are in federal court now, pressing a radical legal theory from Bush v. Gore that federal courts must step in to interpret state statutes, whatever the state supreme court might think. /7
Even if Judge Hanen sees merit in these weak arguments, there is no justification in voiding the 127,000 ballots already cast. These are eligible voters who relied on the rules that were in place. There’s no time for a do-over. /8
Canceling these ballots wouldn’t just be flagrantly unfair—it would also hit voters of color hardest. Harris County, by the way, is home to 25% of Texas's Black residents and 18% of its Latinx population. /9
In short, the Republican plaintiffs are making terrible legal arguments, to disenfranchise 127K voters, after the state courts have rebuked them, and they are doing it at the absolute last minute. Judge Hanen should deny their motion today from the bench. /10
