CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 5/8/2023 1

Number of Absentee-Ballot Drop-Off Locations 

Per County in Texas 

Texas LULAC v. Abbott (1:20-cv-1006), 

Straty v. Abbott (1:20-cv-1015), and 

Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Abbott 

(1:20-cv-1024) (Robert Pitman, W.D. Tex.) 

Because of the global infectious Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Texas’s governor expanded the time period when voters could drop off 

absentee ballots. A subsequent order limited the number of dropoff locations to one per county. A district judge issued a preliminary injunction against the second order, but the court of appeals 

viewed it as part of the first order and therefore part of an expansion of voting opportunities. 

Subject: Absentee and early voting. Topics: Absentee ballots; 

early voting; Covid-19; poll locations. 

On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a national state of emergency in the face of the outbreak of Covid-19 in the United States. That 

same day, Governor Abbott declared a state of disaster in Texas. In April 

2020, Governor Abbott issued a stay-at-home order and postponed local 

elections scheduled for May until November to avoid further spread of the 

disease. . . . 

. . . 

Because voting in person risks exposing voters to Covid-19, many more 

voters who qualify to vote absentee have chosen, or will choose, to cast an 

absentee ballot in the November election. However, widespread delays in 

the [postal service] have left voters “increasingly concerned” that their 

mailed ballots will not reach election officials in time to be counted.1

Three organizations and two voters filed a federal complaint in the Western District of Texas against election officials for Texas and four of its counties on Thursday, October 1, 2020, alleging that the governor’s limiting the 

number of absentee-ballot drop-off locations to one per county would cause 

many voters to be unable to cast timely absentee ballots.2 On the following 

day, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction.3

 On Monday, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint4

1. Tex. LULAC v. Abbott, 493 F. Supp. 3d 548, 561 (W.D. Tex. 2020) (citations omitted). 

2. Complaint, Tex. LULAC v. Abbott, No. 1:20-cv-1006 (W.D. Tex. Oct. 1, 2020), D.E. 1; 

see Tex. LULAC, 493 F. Supp. 3d at 560 (“On October 1, 2020, after voting had already begun, Governor Abbott changed the rules and . . . ordered county election officials to offer 

their absentee voters no more than one ballot return center per county.”); see also James 

Barragán, Suit Targets Drop-Off Change, Dallas Morning News, Oct. 3, 2020, at B1; Taylor 

Goldenstein, Suit Fights Order on Ballot Dropoff, Houston Chron., Oct. 3, 2020, at A1. 

3. Motion, Tex. LULAC, No. 1:20-cv-1006 (W.D. Tex. Oct. 2, 2020), D.E. 5. 

4. Amended Complaint, id. (Oct. 5, 2020), D.E. 16. 
Number of Absentee-Ballot Drop-Off Locations Per County in Texas 

2 Federal Judicial Center 5/8/2023 

and another motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction.5

Judge Robert Pitman set the case for a videoconference hearing on October 8.6

 An amended order on October 7 included a second case in the hearing.7

An October 2 complaint filed in the Western District by two organizations and a voter against Texas’s governor and its secretary of state also challenged the order forbidding counties from providing voters with more than 

one location to return absentee ballots.8 On October 5, these plaintiffs also 

filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction.9

 Following a telephonic conference that day,10 Judge Pitman consolidated the two cases on October 7.11

On October 9, he issued a preliminary injunction against the prohibition 

against more than one drop-off location per county.12

Another case was pending before Judge Pitman: an October 6 complaint 

filed in the Western District by the NAACP against Texas’s governor and its 

secretary of state challenging the limit of one absentee-ballot drop-off location per county.13 On the following day, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a 

temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction.14 Judge Pitman set 

the case for a telephonic conference on October 15.15

The court of appeals issued an administrative stay of Judge Pitman’s injunction on Saturday, October 10,16 and stayed the injunction pending appeal 

two days after that—on Columbus Day.17 The appellate court viewed the restriction of one location per county as part of the governor’s expansion of 

when absentee ballots could be delivered: “Properly understood, . . . the Oc5. Amended Motion, id. (Oct. 5, 2020), D.E. 20; Motion, id. (Oct. 5, 2020), D.E. 15. 

6. Order, id. (Oct. 5, 2020), D.E. 23; see Transcript, id. (Oct. 8, 2020, filed Oct. 12, 2020), 

D.E. 64. 

7. Order, id. (Oct. 7, 2020), D.E. 32. 

8. Complaint, Straty v. Abbott, No. 1:20-cv-1015 (W.D. Tex. Oct. 2, 2020), D.E. 1. 

9. Motion, id. (Oct. 5, 2020), D.E. 9. 

10. Docket Sheet, id. (Oct. 1, 2020) (D.E. 20). 

11. Order, id. (Oct. 6, 2020), D.E. 21; Tex. LULAC v. Abbott, 493 F. Supp. 3d 548, 557–58 

(W.D. Tex. 2020). 

12. Tex. LULAC, 493 F. Supp. 3d at 584–85; see James Barragán, Judge Blocks Abbott on 

Mail-Ballot Sites, Dallas Morning News, Oct. 10, 2020, at A1; Taylor Goldenstein, County 

Can Reopen 11 Ballot Drop Sites, Houston Chron., Oct. 10, 2020, at A3; Brent Kendall & 

Alexa Corse, Voting-Rule Disputes Bring Flurry of Rulings, Wall St. J., Oct. 12, 2020, at A3. 

13. Complaint, Tex. State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Abbott, No. 1:20-cv-1024 

(W.D. Tex. Oct. 6, 2020), D.E. 1 (noting in the caption that the case was related to the other 

two cases before Judge Pitman). 

14. Motion, id. (Oct. 7, 2020), D.E. 6. 

15. Order, id. (Oct. 14, 2020), D.E. 16. 

16. Order, Tex. LULAC v. Hughs, No. 20-50867 (5th Cir. Oct. 10, 2020), D.E. 19; see

Kendall & Corse, supra note 12. 

17. Tex. LULAC v. Hughs, 978 F.3d 136 (5th Cir. 2020). 
Number of Absentee-Ballot Drop-Off Locations Per County in Texas 

Federal Judicial Center 5/8/2023 3

tober proclamation is part of an expansion of absentee voting in Texas, not a 

restriction of it.”18

Judge Pitman accepted the NAACP’s voluntary dismissal of its case on 

October 16.19

On February 22, 2021, the court of appeals vacated Judge Pitman’s injunction and ordered the cases before him dismissed as moot.20

18. Id. at 140. 

19. Order, Tex. State Conference of NAACP Branches, No. 1:20-cv-1024 (W.D. Tex. Oct. 

16, 2020), D.E. 23; see Notice, id. (Oct. 16, 2020), D.E. 22. 

20. Order, Tex. LULAC, No. 20-50867 (5th Cir. Feb. 22, 2021), D.E. 146.