Judge deals Texas narrow defeat over mail-in ballot limits

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A federal judge has handed Texas’ elections overhaul a partial defeat days ahead of 2022′s first primary. The ruling Friday night by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in San Antonio weakens new rules that make it a crime for election officials to proactively help voters get a ballot by mail. It orders Texas not to enforce that narrow part of the law against Harris County, which in 2020 sought to send more than 2 million Houston voters mail-in ballot applications during the pandemic. Texas was expected to appeal the decision, which comes just days before early voting begins for the the first-in-the-nation primary on March 1.