(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- A potentially critical voting case in Texas will be heard by a federal judge on Monday.
The GOP is challenging an order issued Sunday, and is hoping to have almost 127,000 drive-through ballots invalidated. These ballots were cast in the Houston area, which largely leans Democratic.
On Sunday, the state Supreme Court in Texas denied the petition. So far, about 10% of in-person votes that have been cast during the early voting period were cast at these drive-through sites.
A separate case in Nevada will be heard on Monday where the Republican Party is hoping to end early counting in Clark County, which includes the city of Las Vegas. The issue at hand is the stringency of computer software being used to match signatures, as well as how closely observers can watch the votes that are being counted.
An op-ed published in The Washington Post and written by Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, claims:
“Like so many 11th-hour voting-related suits filed by Republicans in recent weeks, this suit has almost nothing to do with voter fraud. Rather, it’s the latest in a consistent and cynical line of suits – in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, among others – that appear motivated by partisan gain, assuming that the exclusion of any set of ballots from Harris County … is good for Republicans.”
The Texas challenge is set to be heard by Judge Andrew Hanen, who was appointed in 2002 by George W. Bush. Republicans may have an ally in Hanen, as he twice blocked Barack Obama-era programs for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and another aimed at parents of legal immigrants.
The case Hanen will hear Monday is in regard to 10 drive-through voting locations that were set up by Harris County for the early voting period, which ended last Friday, and some that were set up for Election Day. These locations are all connected to traditional polling locations.
Curbside voting locations were limited to only voters who have a disability. However, the drive-through locations were open to all voters within Harris County.
The GOP is challenging these drive-through locations, saying they violate the U.S. Constitution, which says state legislatures have the ability to decide how elections are run. They are also arguing that it violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, saying the county is adopting a voting policy that hasn’t been adopted by other counties in Texas.
Houston lawyer Jared Woodfill, who is representing the GOP plaintiffs in the case, has argued that Chris Hollins, the clerk of Harris County, acted on his own by implementing the drive-through voting locations. For his part, Hollins has defended the practice, claiming it to be both a legal and safe option for voting during the coronavirus pandemic.
He also that if the almost 127,000 ballots cast at drive-through sites were to be invalidated during Monday’s hearing, the county would do everything in its power to contact those voters who were affected by the decision so they could find another way to cast their ballot by Election Day.
