Coronavirus cases are rising again in Texas, but most voters fearful of infection are not allowed to cast ballots by mail. For the limited number who qualify with a separate excuse, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott restricted drop-off locations to one per county. And when the Democratic stronghold of Harris County took steps to make voting easier, GOP leaders sued local officials.
Texas is one of five red states that emerged as conspicuous holdouts this year as the rest of the country rushed to loosen voting rules because of the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the roughly 30 million registered voters who live there, and in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, have no choice but to cast ballots in person, even as the rate of coronavirus in the United States approaches its third peak.
The situation underscores how the nation's decentralized election systems and Republican opposition to mail voting this year are translating into vastly different voting experiences for Americans, depending on where they live. Legal challenges to the voting limits have foundered in some courts, rejected by a federal judiciary that has shifted rightward under President Donald Trump.
The restrictions have become a rallying cry for more liberal voters, with many expressing even more determination to have their ballots count. Voters in Harris County have turned out in droves for early voting, casting more than 1 million ballots so far and putting the county on track to surpass its entire 2016 turnout before Election Day.
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Across the state, more than 7 million people had already cast their ballots as of Sunday -- exceeding the state's total 2016 early vote by about 2.4 million.
"This just feels so urgent," said Angela Martinez, 46, who was among scores of voters who arrived at Houston's Metropolitan Multi-Service Center before sunrise to secure a place in line on the first day of early voting this month.
"I expect that older communities and those in poorer places will be disenfranchised, but that's why I come here," she said.
Despite the surge in turnout, voting rights advocates said the rules in these states limit access to the ballot box for less-privileged groups, including younger voters, people of color and, this year, people with medical conditions that leave them more vulnerable to the coronavirus. Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas have some of the country's highest rates of poverty and chronic health conditions.
"My big question is: for what?" said Myrna Pérez, director of the Brennan Center's Voting Rights and Elections Program, of voting restrictions in Texas. "How many compounding, cumulative barriers do we need to accomplish anything legitimate? ... The inescapable conclusion is that there are some politicians that don't want all of their voters voting."
Abbott and other Republican officials say restrictions are necessary to prevent election tampering and ensure the security of mail ballots, even though there is no evidence that mail voting leads to widespread fraud.
"The State of Texas has a duty to voters to maintain the integrity of our elections," Abbott said in a statement Oct. 1 as he restricted the number of drop-off locations per county. "As we work to preserve Texans' ability to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic, we must take extra care to strengthen ballot security protocols throughout the state. These enhanced security protocols will ensure greater transparency and will help stop attempts at illegal voting."
Abbott has taken some steps to relax rules around voting this year, his supporters note -- extending early in-person voting by nearly a week and allowing Texans to return mail ballots in person before Election Day.
"Claims of voter suppression are willfully blind to the fact that this conversation is taking place only because Governor Abbott relaxed elections laws during a pandemic using his emergency powers," Republican Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen wrote in a recent online post. "The fact that he has not relaxed them as much as some would like does not change the fact that he has made it easier to vote this cycle, not harder."
The five states that do not allow fear of the coronavirus as an excuse to vote by mail this year also have some of the strictest rules in the country when it comes to voting generally. All of them have voter ID requirements, and none allow voters to register on Election Day. Mississippi does not offer early in-person voting. Texas no longer allows straight-ticket voting for one party's slate. And in Tennessee, giving someone an application for an absentee ballot is a Class E felony, requiring between one and six years in prison, unless the person providing the form works for an election commission.
Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said rules like Tennessee's "just shock the conscience."
"It's almost as if they've turned a blind eye to the pandemic," Clarke said of states that are not letting everyone vote by mail. "But any state that approaches this year as if the status quo will get us through this election season has failed the voters in their state. This is a moment that has made clear the unnecessary obstacles that we put up to voting."
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Barnes, Lenny Bronner, Jose A. Del Real, Kate Rabinowitz, Neena Satija, Aaron Schaffer and Brittney Martin of The Washington Post.