Just days after a district judge ordered the secretary of state to disregard election code, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the order.
The order temporarily halts the elimination of straight-ticket voting, enjoining the secretary of state from carrying out what the law commands.
The Secretary of State gave Harris County a Monday deadline to halt plans to send mail-in ballot applications to all voters, calling the plan an abuse of voters' rights.
A two-year investigation uncovered an alleged ballot harvesting scheme in which people with prior forgery convictions picked up batches of mail-in ballots and a number of voted ballots were marked identically.
The May municipal elections were postponed to November by Governor Abbott, resulting in the extension of the terms of local officials up for re-election.
