Court Throws Out Texas GOP Lawsuit Targeting ‘Drive-Thru’ Voting | Talking Points Memo

Texas Republicans’ latest attempt to make voting harder in the pandemic didn’t get very far.

A lawsuit filed by the state Monday night challenging Harris County’s plans to operate “drive-thru” voting sites has already been thrown out by the court, according to the Texas Tribune.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1338257

I can’t believe Texas had drive-thru voting before California, as was discussed last night in the handoff between Rachel and Lawrence.

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It really will be interesting to see what the effect of Republican interference is on the voting rate in TX…when you try to take something valuable away from people they will fight hard to keep it. Early voting is packed, and seems heavily weighted towards the Democrats, so this interference appears to be backfiring. And, pollsters build their models based on an assumed distribution of voters and participation rates…if Republicans have driven more Democrats out to vote because of their anti-voter behavior they could be swamped in a bigger blue wave than would have happened otherwise.

It would, of course, serve them right to be swept out of power by voters infuriated by their interference, but we’ll have to wait a few weeks to see if that actually is what comes to pass, or if the interference is effective and keeps them in more power than they would otherwise have. Hopefully the Democrats pulling enough votes to take the Senate and presidency, and can then remove the filibuster and pass new voting rights legislation so all of this nonsense is a thing of the past and voting becomes a fair, streamlined system that can’t be interfered with by partisans.

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CA has mail-in voting already and many don’t have cars, not that having a car is an advantage in CA, depending on where you live.

Probably depends on what you mean by “drive-thru voting”. There’s been a dropoff box for absentee ballots at the county building here for as long as I can remember.

Until we had a President who was actively trying to undermine confidence in election procedures, nobody even gave it much thought.

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How does the Texas GOP or any individual challenge something that makes it easier to vote. How are they harmed really. I guess they argue they are harmed because if citizens find it easy to vote they might not be able to win. That is a dog that doesn’t hunt since the goal of every election is to get every qualified voter to the polls.

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CA also has early voting (starting as early as October 5), ballot drop boxes, and does not try to limit polling places to force people to wait all day in lines. Drive-Thru voting seems inefficient, but if that is all TX can do to give the voters a break, then it will have to do.

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All three justices (yes, we call 'em justices even on the intermediate appellate courts here) are Dems elected in the 2018 sweep. That said, I seriously doubt SCOTX will touch this one. The lack of standing is too glaringly obvious.

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As Whitehouse pointed out yesterday, the plaintiff’s goal is SCOTUS, where the Robert’s Five will continue their 80-0 ruling streak against the people and for the 1%.

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deerpathPrime Member

Meanwhile…

https://www.kare11.com/amp/article/news/nation-world/millions-early-vote-election/507-67e3f587-bd40-49be-8127-7598144e86c0

More than 10 million people across the U.S. have already voted in the 2020 election, shattering early voting records with 21 days to go
Around this time four years ago, about 1.4 million early votes had been cast

The article has a link to the current tallies for each state if you’re interested.

emiliano4

deerpath

7m

Pass it ON!!

Good Luck, Texas… (original post @deerpath)

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Unless you are Republican and likely out of favor.

How dare we stack the election against them by ensuring qualified voters are able to exercise their right to vote.

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This election is the stuff of wild fiction already. Actual civilized nations are aghast. The fight these fascist bastards are putting up to allow us to descend into poverty and destruction as quickly as possible is truly stunning. It’s so embarrassing.

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I got to give SERIOUS props to Chris Hollins for getting that drive-in voting option available!

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The death rattle of a species rapidly facing extinction. Honestly, unless they establish a dead serious and competent dictatorship, this is their last rodeo. The demographics are against them. Those demographics will only become more overwhelming. And they are no longer trying to actually run this country. Whatever power they have will fail just for the chaos they are sowing. I have yet to understand how they think they will better off in the future. But then they have deluded themselves on herd immunity so who knows what they think.

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And since it’s actual in-person voting with machines, most of the usual claims about fraud go out the window. Although I’m sure they would still be made.

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One of Alec Baldwin’s brothers made an action movie in which (in one of the last scenes) the villain actually succeeded with a wire transfer of funds to him.

Unfortunately, the joker was underwater in an oceangoing vessel about to go kaput

And he got paid as he was dying/drowning…as the elevator music played while the funds were being transferred.

They wanna WIN. They don’t give a fuck about beyond.

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Well all the GOP has done here is provoke us into turning out.

We broke records everywhere yesterday for early voting. And 97% of eligible voters in Travis Co have registered to vote. It’s unbelievable.

Twice as many people voted in Dallas Co yesterday as the last time on the first day of early voting. O - and Harris Co was stunning. The turnout was stunning.

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There’s apparently no end to what a deluded human will think, but yeah, if a tiny bit of observation and logic creep in now and then one would assume the cult would start to wonder what’s in store down the road. Especially those getting burned down or whacked by a hurricane for the second or third time.

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Any solid numbers and comparisons with earlier years?

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This won’t stop anyone, I imagine, but comparisons are difficult and may not be useful because of the pandemic.