Texas Tribune by Jolie McCullough Oct. 13, 2020
The court filing from just before early voting began is the latest GOP effort to tamp down voting options in the state's most populous county.
Hours before early voting began, the Texas Republican Party filed a new lawsuit Monday night challenging Harris County’s efforts to provide more voting options during the coronavirus pandemic, this time asking a court to limit curbside voting and halt the county's drive-thru voting programs.
State election law has long allowed voters with medical conditions to vote curbside. After they arrive at a polling location, a ballot is brought outside to them in their vehicle by an election worker. In addition to urging qualified voters to use the curbside option this year, Harris County also opened designated "drive-thru" polling locations for all voters, where poll workers hand people a voting machine through their car window after checking their photo identification.
The state GOP's lawsuit, filed in a state appeals court in Houston, seeks to halt the drive-thru voting program and limit curbside voting to those who have submitted sworn applications saying they qualify for it. Glenn Smith, a senior strategist with Progress Texas, said Tuesday he could find nothing in the law requiring an application to vote curbside. Texas election law instructs election officers to deliver an on-site curbside ballot if a voter is “physically unable to enter the polling place without personal assistance or likelihood of injuring the voter's health.â€
More:
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/13/texas-republicans-voting-harris-county/
