As COVID spreads, Abbott extends early voting by six days for Nov. general election
Citing the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation Monday extending early voting for the November general election by six days.
Early voting for the Nov. 3 general election was set to start Oct. 19. The proclamation now pushes the start date up to Oct. 13, leaving close to two-and-a-half weeks before the early voting period ends on Oct. 30.
In addition, the period by which mail-in ballots may be delivered to the early voting clerk’s office was expanded to allow delivery before Election Day, rather than simply on it.
“As we respond to COVID-19, the State of Texas is focused on strategies that preserve Texans’ ability to vote in a way that also mitigates the spread of the virus,” Abbott said in a statement. “By extending the early voting period and expanding the period in which mail-in ballots can be hand-delivered, Texans will have greater flexibility to cast their ballots, while at the same time protecting themselves and others from COVID-19.”
In late May, Abbott told KCBD-TV in Lubbock that he would be extending early voting for the November general election like he did for the July 14 primary runoff election.
“What that does, it allows more people to go vote early in settings that are not highly congregated. As a result, you can go vote without having to worry about a whole bunch of people being around you that you could contract COVID-19 from,” Abbott told KCBD-TV at the time. “That makes voting a lot safer setting than it would otherwise be with the shortened early voting time period.”
In a statement following Abbott’s announcement, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said the six-day extension was a step, but not enough, and instead called for expanded access to mail-in ballots and funds for county election officials.
“Abbott’s decision to extend early voting by six days is exactly like his COVID-19 response: the bare minimum and not fully thought through,” Hinojosa said.
Abbott had previously postponed the May 26 primary runoff elections to July over concerns of Texans flocking to the polls amid the coronavirus’ spread. Despite the delayed elections, extra week of early voting and safety measures, some Tarrant County voters still expressed concerns about what they described as “a large supply closet” worth of space at some early voting polling places that left them with limited room to social distance from others.
Accounting for both mail-in ballots and in-person voting, Tarrant County saw increased voter turnout this early voting period compared to the May 2016 primary runoff election.
The Texas Democratic Party and civil rights groups had pushed to greatly expand vote-by-mail eligibility ahead of the July election, raising concerns over Texans risking their health by visiting polling places in-person amid the pandemic.
Back-and-forth rulings led to multiple starts and stops to expanded access. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately declined to lift a lower court’s stay to allow all eligible Texas voters to qualify for a mail-in ballot to avoid contracting COVID-19.
However, the case may resurface before the November general election, as the party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case on the merits of the claim that Texas’ vote-by-mail restrictions violate provisions of the 26th Amendment — which prohibits age from being used as the basis to deny someone the right to vote.
This November, Texas voters will weigh in on the presidential race, decide between Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic nominee MJ Hegar and cast their vote in a slew of Texas House races as Democrats battle to wrest control from the Republican-controlled majority.
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 2:49 PM.
