Federal judge REJECTS Republicans' bid to throw out 127,000 ballots cast at drive-through voting sites in Houston, Texas in victory for Democrats

A federal judge in Texas on Monday denied an attempt by Republicans to throw out about 127,000 votes already cast in the U.S. presidential election at drive-through voting sites in Houston, a Democratic-leaning area.

The plaintiffs had accused County Clerk Chris Hollins, a Democrat, of acting illegally when he allowed drive-through voting as an alternative during the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen - a George W. Bush appointee - said the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case.

He also said that if appeals judges found they were able to bring the case, he would rule that the votes must stand. 

'I find that when you balance the harms you've got to weigh in favor of counting the votes,' the judge said. 

The lawsuit was brought last Wednesday by plaintiffs including state Representative Steve Toth, conservative activist Steve Hotze, and judicial candidate Sharon Hemphill.

Pandemic measure: Harris County, which includes Houston, introduced drive-through voting in response to COVID. Republicans tried to have 127,000 votes cast at the drive-through polls invalidated

Getting ready: Texas is hoping to count early and mail-in ballots rapidly on Election Day

Blow: U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen's ruling was not what Donald Trump's campaign were hoping for

Harris County, home to the city of Houston and about 4.7 million people, is the third most populous county in the United States. It currently has 10 drive-through polling sites, which are available to all voters.

The Texas Supreme Court, a state court, on Sunday rejected a nearly identical bid by the same plaintiffs to halt drive-through voting in Harris County. The same court also previously denied similar challenges brought by the Texas Republican Party and the Harris County Republican Party.

Texas, the second largest U.S. state, is traditionally a Republican state, but polls show a tight race between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden with more than 9 million ballots already cast, eclipsing the state's total turnout from the 2016 presidential election.

One of those who used a drive-through site and now believes the lawsuit plaintiffs are trying to void her vote is Hannah Smith, a 34-year-old Republican.

'We know that we cast our votes legally,' said Smith, who said she cast her ballot on Oct. 24 for Biden and Republican candidates down the ballot. 'There's no doubt in my mind what should be done, which is to count our votes.'

Smith, who works at a Houston-area hospital, said she learned of drive-through voting from the county clerk's website, and that it seemed like a convenient and safe way to vote.

She said she would stand in line on Tuesday and try to vote again if her ballot were to be deemed void.

A lawyer for Hotze, Jared Woodfill, said on Sunday the plaintiffs may eventually take their fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Protest: The move by the conservative activists was the subject of protests in Houston

Hundreds of legal challenges have been brought in the months leading up to the Nov. 3 election over how Americans can cast their ballots. Democrats have generally tried to ease access to mail-in and other alternatives to in-person voting, while Trump has repeatedly made unfounded attacks on mail-in voting, claiming it leads to fraud.

Democratic groups including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee denounced the plaintiff's request to throw out the votes already cast as 'wholly unreasonable,' in a motion on Friday asking to intervene in the case.

'They are simply trying to see what frivolous argument they can make to try and invalidate votes,' Harris County's top administrator, Lina Hidalgo, said in a briefing on Sunday.

Michael Morley, a professor of election law at Florida State University, said he believes that the county has a strong legal basis under state law for implementing alternative voting methods during the pandemic.

'Even if the court disagreed, however, a remedy would most likely be purely prospective - prohibiting continued use of these mechanisms while still counting votes already cast,' he said.