You never count your money while you’re sitting at the table [UPDATED]
By 
The best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep:
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 https://t.co/7sexkYfnps pic.twitter.com/cnx1ShUKFR— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) November 3, 2020
If this were being appealed to a court of law it would have no chance, but it’s the Fifth Circuit so who knows.
Seriously, I would actually be surprised if any already-cast ballots were thrown out, because as Tillman says even Hanen seemed to realize that wasn’t going to fly. As an aside, this illustrates the limitations of political science models of judicial decision-making. It could be explained by the legal model (“the plaintiffs are plainly wrong on numerous points of black letter law”) or by the strategic model (“I would prefer not to have my courthouse burned down after I disenfranchise 127,000 voters, many of them educated, affluent white people, ex post facto.”) But given Hanen’s still remarkably lawless statement that he “probably” would have enjoined Election Day drive-thru voting if the plaintiffs had standing, I think there’s at least a chance it will happen.
Admittedly, given that Trump voters are more likely to be waiting for Election Day it’s not clear how much this will help Republicans even in a county that will probably be north of 70% 60% for Biden, but that’s not the point: lawlessly disenfranchising voters is bad no matter what! I hope 5CA will take the hint but we’ll see.
…nothing about this is subtle:
I understand the GOP is fully Trumpified now and all, but following his habit of saying the quiet parts loud may be strategically unsound in some cases, especially when you’re trying to make judges your accomplices. https://t.co/xIsvreREQc— David Watkins (@djw172) November 3, 2020
…Harris County preemptively shut down 9 of its 10 drive-thru locations, so mission accomplished!
NEW into @VICENews tonight: Harris County clerk Chris Hollins tells me that he is closing 9 out of the 10 drive-in voting locations in the county tomorrow in order to protect votes after Republicans continue to appeal. The Toyota Center drive-through WILL remain open— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) November 3, 2020