Case: 20-50407
Document: 00515441096
Page: 3
Date Filed: 06/04/2020
No. 20-50407
2020; that the period for “early voting by personal appearance” would be doubled; and that election officials would issue further guidance to election workers
and voters on social distancing and other precautionary measures. 3
The plaintiffs—the Texas Democratic Party, its chair, and various individual voters—allege that such actions aren’t enough. They sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Secretary of State Ruth Hughs, and Attorney General Ken
Paxton, 4 in state court, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief that, as a
matter of Texas law, those eligible to vote by mail include all “eligible voter[s],
regardless of age and physical condition . . . if they believe they should practice
social distancing in order to hinder the known or unknown spread of a virus or
disease.” Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed, such voters suffer from a “disability” under Texas election law because a lack of immunity to the Virus constitutes a “physical condition that prevents the voter from appearing at the
polling place on election day without a likelihood of . . . injuring the voter’s
health.” TEX. ELEC. CODE § 82.002.
Thus began within the Texas judiciary a saga of sorts. First, the state
trial court granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction. Texas intervened
and filed a notice of interlocutory appeal, which, under Texas law, superseded
and stayed the injunction. 5
Weeks later, General Paxton issued a statement directed at “County
Judges and County Election Officials,” writing that
[b]ased on the plain language of the relevant statutory text, fear of
3
2020.
Governor Abbott also declared a state of disaster for the whole state on March 13,
Except where relevant to distinguish among the defendants, we refer to them
collectively as the “state officials.”
4
See TEX. R. APP. P. 29.1(b); In re State Bd. for Educator Certification, 452 S.W.3d
802, 805 (Tex. 2014) (Willett, J.).
5
3