Judge tells Texas Republicans they must prove 'evil motive' to throw out drive-through ballots

GOP makes last-minute appeal to federal court to invalidate thousands of ballots in third-largest county in US

A federal court judge appeared to cast doubt over a last-minute Republican-led effort to toss out more than 120,000 ballots in Texas.

US District Judge Andrew Hanen said GOP plaintiffs – who have sought to invalidate ballots cast at drive-through polling places in Harris County, the state’s largest county and third-largest county in the US – would have to prove an “evil motive” to do so.

The drive-through polling sites were approved by the Texas Secretary of State and received bipartisan approval from the state legislature.

Judge Hanan, who was appointed by Republican president George W Bush, told plaintiffs that the voting sites have “been going on for two weeks.”

"Why am I just getting this case?" he asked.

Judge Hanen said plaintiffs face an "uphill road" to convince the court to toss out the county’s ballots.

On Sunday, the state’s Supreme Court rejected the challenge from three Republican candidates and a GOP activist in a similar suit.

The federal court hearing, on the eve of Election Day, could determine whether thousands of ballots cast in the Democratic-leaning county will stand in the state, which election analysts believe has emerged as a potential battleground between Donald Trump and Joe Bide that could flip to a Democratic presidential win for the first time since 1976 when Jimmy Carter carried the state. There also are a number of critical local and statewide races on Texas ballots.

More than 9 million people in the state have already voted through early voting and by casting mail-in ballots, a massive turnout that surpassed the state’s entire voter turnout from the 2016 presidential election.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Texas League of Women Voters filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, which Texas ACLU director Andrew Segura called “another desperate and ludicrous attempt by extremists to block the will of the people and disrupt democracy.”

“The push to toss the ballots of nearly 127,000 Texans in Harris County is unconscionable and illegal,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, deputy director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “It appears to be an attempt to undermine a true and accurate vote count and improperly influence the outcome of the election.”

In a statement, Grace Chimene, president of League of Women Voters of Texas, explained that drive-through voting was established “as a safe early voting option for individuals, including many disabled voters who did not want to enter a polling site during this pandemic.”

“It was tested with great success during the Texas run-off and special election in July,” she said. "This last-minute attack on voters demonstrates a desire by some to silence Texas voters and we will not stand for it.”