The Republican attempt to throw out nearly 127,000 votes cast at drive-through voting sites in Harris County, Texas, went to one of the most partisan Republican federal judges on the bench. But it failed anyway.
The day after the Republican Texas Supreme Court rejected without comment a case on the same issue, Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that the Republican plaintiffs had no standing to bring the case. That means the votes will count. Republicans could appeal—and, knowing who we’re talking about, probably will—but if Hanen and the Texas Supreme Court threw it out, an appeal would be unlikely to succeed.
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Hanen said he was “not necessarily happy” with the outcome, but nonetheless laid out his thinking on the merits of the case—that “I also do not find the voting to be illegal. These are registered voters who gave their ID”—appellate attorney Raffi Melkonian explained, “so the Fifth Circuit can *affirm* his ruling even if they disagree on standing.”
Hanen did, however, suggest that drive-through voting on Election Day itself wasn’t a home run, advising people not to try to vote by that method going forward. Things are looking good for these already-cast votes being counted, though.