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A federal appeals court on Saturday issued a temporary order that once again blocks Texas counties from setting up multiple drop-off locations for mail-in ballots.
The decision by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals came hours after Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an emergency appeal of an order issued late Friday by a federal judge in Austin that would have allowed counties to set up more than one drop-off location.
That ruling blocked Gov. Greg Abbott’s Oct. 1 proclamation limiting Texas counties to one drop-off location.
“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,” Paxton said in a written statement Saturday. “This ensures that the governor’s proclamation remains in effect.”
Absentee ballots have become a contentious issue leading up to the Nov. 3 election, as many Texans have said they want the option of mailing in their vote to help protect themselves from the novel coronavirus.
The governor said in a news release on his Oct. 1 order that limiting counties to one drop-off location is necessary to ensure strong “ballot security protocol.”
Democrats, on the other hand, have said that Abbott’s order is just a thinly veiled attempt at voter suppression.
The back-and-forth flurry of legal proceedings comes just days before Tuesday’s start of early voting in Texas.
Dallas and Tarrant counties currently each only offer one drop-off location for mail-in ballots, so their operations aren’t affected by the orders.
Dallas County’s location is at 1520 Round Table Drive in Dallas. Tarrant County’s is at 2700 Premier St. in Fort Worth.