A federal judge in Texas rejected a GOP-led challenge Monday seeking to invalidate nearly 127,000 drive-thru ballots cast in the Democratic-leaning Houston area, CNN reports.
From CNN:
“When you balance the harms you’ve got to weigh in favor of that – in counting the votes,” Judge Andrew Hanen ruled after a nearly three hour hearing. The judge noted that people have been voting using the drive-thru tents since mid-October and the petition to invalidate those votes was filed only late last week.
Hanen an appointee of President George W. Bush, rejected the Republicans’ arguments on a technical matter, but also said he would have ruled against them since the lawsuit was filed well after thousands of people had voted.
The ruling comes one day after the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition to throw out ballots cast at drive-thru voting stations.
According to CNN, the Republicans immediately appealed the ruling to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
