By Ashley Moss
Staff Writer
The limitation to the number of ballot drop-off locations in Texas will stay in place while a federal appeals court decides if Gov. Greg Abbott violated voting rights, particularly for the elderly and disabled.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman had ruled against the Republican governor on October 9 in a document that barred the state from restricting each county in the state to a single drop-off location for ballots before Election Day.
“Appeals court allows my mail ballot drop-off order to stay in place,” said Gov. Abbott on his Facebook page. “Critics falsely claimed that my order limited voting. To the contrary it EXPANDED voting by adding more days. Texas law has always allowed only 1 county location for MAIL-IN ballots.”
Republicans say the reduction in drop-off sites is necessary to ensure election security. Dallas, Tarrant and Denton Counties should not be affected by the one drop-off location as that policy is already standard.
