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gldstwmn

(4,575 posts)
Fri Nov 11, 2022, 01:20 PM Nov 2022

Texas Supreme Court ruling opens possibility that late Harris County ballots won't be counted

After several Harris County polling places opened late, a state district judge ordered voting locations there to stay open until 8 p.m. But the state’s highest civil court blocked that ruling.

The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday set the stage for a legal fight over whether to count ballots Harris County voters cast during an extended hour of voting ordered by a lower court.

That lower court ordered that the state’s most populous county extend voting hours until 8 p.m. after several polling places were delayed in opening. The state’s highest civil court blocked that ruling and ordered Harris County to separate ballots cast by voters who were not in line by 7 p.m., the normal cutoff for voting in Texas. The Supreme Court’s order followed a request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to reverse the lower court’s order. The Supreme Court posted the order on Twitter at 8:30 p.m.

(snip)

The order to keep polls open an extra hour at nearly 800 polling places came after the Texas Organizing Project sued Harris County, citing issues at numerous polling locations that opened more than one hour late Tuesday. Many Harris County voting locations also experienced voting machine malfunctions that caused delays and temporary closures throughout the day, the lawsuit claimed. The county did not fight the request for extra voting time.

(snip)

Harris County has regularly come under the scrutiny of Texas Republicans in the last few election cycles. The county was at the center of sweeping Republican legislation passed in 2021 to further restrict the state’s voting process and narrow local control of elections. That new law, known as Senate Bill 1, banned methods championed by Harris County in the first major election during the pandemic — 24-hour voting and drive-thru voting, both of which were disproportionately used by voters of color.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/08/texas-harris-county-polls-close-8-pm/

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Texas Supreme Court ruling opens possibility that late Harris County ballots won't be counted (Original Post) gldstwmn Nov 2022 OP
Ugh! sakabatou Nov 2022 #1
Worst federal court in the nation! Totally partisan. ananda Nov 2022 #2
I wish I could say I am surprised they don't want to count Democratic votes. emulatorloo Nov 2022 #3
Texas Supreme Court is as corrupt as the SCOTUS, but much worse MagickMuffin Nov 2022 #4
That is what the Republican view of the voting process looks like. Chainfire Nov 2022 #5
I'm not sure they should be counted because some Sucha NastyWoman Nov 2022 #6

ananda

(28,783 posts)
2. Worst federal court in the nation! Totally partisan.
Fri Nov 11, 2022, 01:24 PM
Nov 2022

And illegitimate, just like the rightwing SCOTUS.

MagickMuffin

(15,892 posts)
4. Texas Supreme Court is as corrupt as the SCOTUS, but much worse
Fri Nov 11, 2022, 01:27 PM
Nov 2022


I so wish there was something to be done about our situation here.

Tarrant county only 32% of registered voters went to the polls. Shocking yet predictable!


Chainfire

(17,308 posts)
5. That is what the Republican view of the voting process looks like.
Fri Nov 11, 2022, 01:28 PM
Nov 2022

I would be highly pissed if I were one of the disenfranchised voters.

Sucha NastyWoman

(2,725 posts)
6. I'm not sure they should be counted because some
Fri Nov 11, 2022, 02:11 PM
Nov 2022

Polling places locked the doors and some didn’t. For example, Prarie View first locked the doors, turning away 3 voters, then later unlocked them. Not sure if those 3 voters were able to vote after all or not. They also locked the doors at Kashmere. Then Prarie View got word that the Texas Supreme Court stayed the temporary restraining order, so they locked the doors again, this time turning away 12 voters, who then went home. Also there were 3 voters at Acres Homes trying to vote provisionally, but left after the TRO was stayed. So if they open those provisional ballots they will consist of only some of the voters who wanted to vote between 7-8pm.

And if you are familiar with Harris County, you will recognize that the three precinct named above are all mostly black precincts.

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