DALLAS (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court docket on Sunday denied a Republican-led petition to toss practically 127,000 ballots solid at drive-thru voting locations within the Houston space.

The state’s all-Republican excessive courtroom rejected the request from a state consultant and two GOP candidates with out explaining its resolution. Their effort to have the Harris County ballots thrown out continues to be set to be taken up throughout an emergency listening to in federal courtroom on Monday.

Conservative Texas activists have railed towards expanded voting entry in Harris County, the place a report 1.four million early votes have already been solid. The county is the nation’s third largest and a vital battleground in Texas, the place President Donald Trump and Republicans are bracing for the closest election in a long time on Tuesday.

U.S. District Decide Andrew Hanen is anticipated to rule on the identical challenge on Monday. Hanen’s resolution to listen to arguments getting ready to Election Day drew consideration from voting rights activists. The Texas Supreme Court docket additionally rejected an almost an identical problem final month.

Conservative GOP activists have filed a battery of courtroom challenges over strikes to develop voting choices in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges haven’t concerned President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign.

Trump received Texas by 9 factors in 2016 however polls have proven Democrat Joe Biden nonetheless inside attain in America’s greatest pink state. Democrats additionally have to flip solely 9 seats to reclaim a majority within the Texas Home for the primary time in 20 years, and have aggressively focused a number of races in Harris County.

Harris County has provided 10 drive-thru areas the place its practically 5 million residents can solid ballots of their automobiles as an alternative of going inside polling facilities. The lodging goals to forestall transmission of the coronavirus. Jared Woodfill, a former chairman of the Harris County GOP, argued that Texas election regulation makes no specific allowances for drive-thru voting and that solely voters who want help are eligible to solid a poll curbside.

Woodfill’s lawsuit additionally famous that each one however one of many drive-thru facilities had been arrange “in Democrat areas of the county.” Greater than 40% of Harris County residents are Latino, and about one in 5 residents are Black.

Counting the drive-thru votes, Woodfill argued, would “name into query the integrity and legality of a federal election.”

The Texas Supreme Court docket, which is managed completely by Republicans, rejected an an identical lawsuit final month. Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, who runs the county’s elections, had requested Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to affirm that the drive-thru areas are authorized however obtained no response.

Texas is considered one of simply 5 states that didn’t enable for widespread mail-in voting this yr in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed practically 18,000 folks statewide. Abbott as an alternative expanded early voting by one week, and that additional time helped Texas already surpass 2016’s whole votes even earlier than Tuesday’s election.

Greater than 9.7 million folks have solid early ballots in Texas, the place turnout sometimes ranks among the many lowest within the nation. Some elections consultants predict that whole turnout in Texas might surpass 12 million, and Harris County officers have taken extra steps than most to develop voting entry.

The county tripled the variety of polling locations and final week had eight areas that stayed open for 24 hours.

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Related Press writers Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas, and Nomaan Service provider in Houston contributed to this report.

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AP’s Advance Voting information brings you the details about voting early, by mail or absentee from every state: https://interactives.ap.org/advance-voting-2020/