Thread by @ZoeTillman

A hearing is starting soon before Judge Andrew Hanen in a federal challenge to drive-thru voting in Harris Cty. Reporters got call-in info, but it just disconnected, so... stay tuned.

On yesterday's TX Supreme Court order rejecting a similar challenge: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Hanen's chambers has notified reporters who requested call-in information that the hearing has started, and that the call-in line disconnected because it was overloaded. We haven't received new call-in information to listen to the hearing.

I was able to get through on the call-in line that Hanen's chambers provided (some reporters couldn't), and then we began hearing recorded messages saying the conference was going to end in five minutes, and then one minute, and then the line disconnected

It appears at least some reporters who tried to go in-person to today's hearing were not able to get in:

https://twitter.com/elizTrovall/status/1323310834844684290

The thing is - some courts got good about giving reporters/the public dial-in access during the pandemic. I've been on calls with hundreds of other people, and courts made back-up lines available to handle volume. The tech exists, but each court gets to decide how to handle it

Here's one reporter who appears to have gotten in and is sharing updates on the hearing:

https://twitter.com/ErnestScheyder/status/1323262081240621057

Update: We're back on the line, listening to a fuzzy, choppy feed from the courtroom. But I can hear what sounds like one of the lawyers arguing, so progress! Stay tuned.

The bad news is, people keep trying to join the line, so most of what I can hear right now are beeps over the far-off sounds of the voices of a lawyer and Judge Hanen (and a few unmuted lines)

In the clearest exchange I've made out so far, Hanen asked about the Elections Clause and power of state legislatures to determine how elections are conducted. Lawyer replies state law gives discretion to chose location, and argues regardless, remedy is not to invalidate ballots

The judge is hearing briefly from lawyers who filed amicus briefs in the case — the lawyer speaking right now represents five voters who utilized a drive-thru voting site because of a disability or illness (one of the clients is the lawyer's mother, he notes)

Folks still having some issues muting their lines while listening to this hearing remotely. "Hey I'm on hold with animal services" just came through loud and clear.

This hearing is very hard to follow between the constant pinging of people joining the call-in line and the varying volumes of the voices of those arguing (the lawyer for the plaintiffs was just up again, but he was hard to hear). I'll do my best to update, but just a heads up

Someone just let out what sounded like a big sigh on the line. Same, random person. Same.

Hanen is asking about what he should do with the fact that Harris County is preparing to have drive-thru voting sites for Election Day (aka tomorrow) — he's questioning if it's right to allow that to happen without even warning voters those votes might be challenged later

Update: Hanen is done hearing arguments, and says he's going to break for 15-20 minutes and then come back and announce his ruling from the bench. Stay tuned.

A good reminder that "15-20 minutes" in court time does not actually mean 15-20 minutes

Okay Judge Hanen is back on the bench

Now: Judge Hanen rules that the plaintiffs who challenged drive-thru voting in Harris County do not have standing to sue.

Hanen: "I’m not necessarily happy with that finding."

Hanen says that if the 5th Circuit reverses and says the plaintiffs do have standing, he'd then deny an injunction to invalidate ballots already cast at drive-thru sites — he would find that the voting sites count as structures under state election law

BUT Hanen says that if the 5th Circuit reverses him and finds the plaintiffs have standing, he *would* enjoin the use of drive-thru voting for Election Day (tomorrow) because state law has different language about what kind of structure is allowed as a polling place

He's going to order the county to maintain all drive-thru voting records and data in case the 5th Circuit reverses him on standing and reopens all of this

STORY: A federal judge (a conservative-leaning one at that) will not invalidate nearly 127K early votes cast at drive-thru voting sites in Harris County, Texas's most populous county, and won't stop drive-thru voting for tomorrow buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Judge Hanen tossed the case, brought by R voters and candidates, for lack of standing. He left open the possibility that drive-thru voting *on* Election Day could still be subject to legal challenges if the 5th Circuit disagreed with him on standing buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Hanen made clear that he was unconvinced on the merits of R's challenge to ballots cast at drive-thru sites during the early voting period — so even if the 5th Circuit reversed on standing, he would deny an injunction to invalidate those 127K votes buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Update: The Texas Rs who sued over Harris County's drive-thru voting sites have appealed today's order dismissing their case for lack of standing to the 5th Circuit, stay tuned buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

New: Texas Republicans have filed an emergency motion with the 5th Circuit to block Harris County from operating drive-through voting sites tomorrow, after losing their case on standing before the district judge earlier today (see: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…)
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7281…

"A ruling on this motion is respectfully sought this evening of November 2 in order to enjoin election violations which would otherwise occur."

Polls open in Harris County at 7am. This was filed ~10 minutes ago with the 5th Circuit.