A three-judge panel from Texas’ Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive allowing just a single ballot drop-in box for each of the state's 254 counties. The decision comes after State Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an emergency motion to block a district court ruling allowing acceptance of hand-delivered mail-in ballots at additional locations, which the Fifth Circuit granted before formally reversing the lower court ruling late Monday night. The limit of one ballot box per county, a rule which will apply even in counties with millions of residents, has been blasted by critics as a method that will lead to voter suppression.
