A Federal Judge in Houston has ruled that he will not invalidate the 127-thousand votes cast at drive-through locations in Harris County during early voting, and the mode of voting would be allowed to continue on Tuesday.
From the start of Monday's court hearing, US District Judge Andrew Hanen let the plaintiffs in this case, three republican candidates and a conservative activist know that they had an uphill road to prove that Harris County had 'evil motives' in setting up the drive-through voting locations.
The lawyer for the Republicans, Jared Woodfill argued that the method of voting didn't have the approval of the State Legislature, and that the Harris County Clerk was trying to create a pandemic exception to Texas Election Code.
Judge Hanen disagreed saying the plaintiffs lacked standing in this case, so the votes will be accepted and drive-through voting will be allowed on Election Day.
Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins was the target of the GOP lawsuit. While speaking with reporters after the judge's decision, Hollins said he was proud of their efforts to preserve Democracy.
"We will have drive-thru voting open tomorrow. We will count those votes and we want to make clear that voter access in Texas and in America is a constitutional right that we will protect."
The Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa issued the following statement:
"Once again, Texas Republicans sought to threaten Texans' right to vote and they lost, but this election is not over. We must send them a message and vote them out. The future of our state is entirely in our hands now."
The GOP fight to invalidate the votes and end drive-thru voting in Harris County is not over. Judge Henen's decision has been appealed to the 5th Circuit Court.
