A Harris County decide has ordered election officers to reopen early voting for 2 further days in Texas’ 18th Congressional District runoff after a winter storm compelled polling locations to shut.
The decide’s ruling was in response to lawsuits from advocacy teams Houston Justice and Pure Justice.
The teams filed an emergency lawsuit asking Harris County officers to increase early voting hours within the 18th Congressional District runoff election between former Houston Metropolis Councilmember Amanda Edwards and Harris County Legal professional Christian Menefee.
The teams argued that when officers shut down early voting websites on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, after a winter storm warning introduced harmful street circumstances and freezing temperatures, voters misplaced essential time to forged their ballots.
These closures, they mentioned, have been “comprehensible,” however additionally they diminished voters’ alternatives to forged ballots within the TX-18 race.
Subsequently, they requested a short lived restraining order requiring the county to reopen early voting for extra days, together with Jan. 28, 2026, for 12 hours and Jan. 29, 2026, for no less than seven hours.
These named within the lawsuit have been Harris County, Commissioners Courtroom, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, Harris County Choose Lina Hidalgo, Commissioners Rodney Ellis, Adrian Garcia, Tom Ramsey, and Lesley Briones.
The Harris County Clerk’s workplace is answerable for administering elections within the county, together with early voting operations.
Election Day for the runoff is Saturday, Jan. 31.
Courtroom grants emergency reduction
On Jan. 26, the 157th District Courtroom granted a short lived restraining order requiring Harris County to make up the misplaced voting time.
Below the order, the county should:
Open all early voting places that have been scheduled to function on Monday, Jan. 26, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Open all places that had been scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 25, for no less than seven hours on Thursday, Jan. 29, from midday to 7 p.m.
The added hours are supposed to make up for time misplaced when polling locations have been shut down resulting from harmful street circumstances and freezing temperatures brought on by a winter storm.
The decide discovered that voters confronted “imminent and irreparable hurt” if the extra hours weren’t granted and that the advocacy teams have been prone to succeed on the deserves of their authorized claims underneath the Texas Election Code.
The order additionally requires Harris County to extensively publicize the added voting hours “by means of each attainable supply of media” and to deal with any provisional ballots forged throughout the prolonged interval in accordance with the Assist America Vote Act.
What do the candidates say?
Menefee and Edwards supported the lawsuit, arguing in favor of the extension.
“Governor Abbott delayed for months earlier than calling this election for the 18th Congressional District,” Menefee mentioned in an announcement earlier than the decide’s ruling. “Now a storm has knocked out two of the seven days of early voting…People in TX-18 have already gone almost a 12 months and not using a voice in Congress. We shouldn’t must accept simply 5 days to vote early in such an necessary election.”
Edwards known as the shortage of illustration within the district a “deliberate disenfranchisement” of voters, traditionally a Black, Democratic stronghold.
“I’m in full alignment with the extension of the early voting interval,” she mentioned, including that the extension is necessary as a result of voters are already confused about two overlapping elections: The runoff and March primaries with redrawn boundaries. “That is your final alternative to make your voice heard.”
Edwards mentioned areas with excessive concentrations of seniors and different weak populations are disproportionately impacted by modifications in election dates and foresees a “dip” in turnout as a result of cancellations.
She suggested voters to make use of free METRO round-trip tickets to the polls for the election.
“Texas legislation doesn’t enable native officers to increase voting days on their very own. It’s a must to get a courtroom order simply to do what is sensible,” Menefee added. “That’s why this lawsuit issues; it’s about ensuring folks have the time and alternative to vote.”
An extended-awaited election
The 18th Congressional District has seen a number of setbacks up to now 12 months.
First, Congressmen Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner, who represented the district, died whereas in workplace, leaving the seat with out illustration for nearly a 12 months.
Then, a particular election was held in November 2025, during which each Menefee and Edwards fell wanting the 50% threshold, triggering a runoff.
The runoff early voting interval was additionally lower brief resulting from climate circumstances earlier than the district courtroom ruling.
Within the lawsuit, the plaintiffs said that their members had deliberate to vote throughout the now-canceled early voting days and will have confronted challenges attending to the polls later within the week or on Election Day.
“Probably dozens of 1000’s of voters might be additional disenfranchised by having fewer days to forged their ballots, resulting from harmful climate circumstances outdoors of Defendants’ management,” the lawsuit defined.
Authorized arguments give attention to state election legislation
The lawsuit contended that the ballot closures battle with provisions of the Texas Election Code that govern early voting hours.
The code requires that early voting throughout particular elections ordered by the Governor “shall be performed on the fundamental early voting polling place for no less than 12 hours on every of the final two days of the early voting interval.”
The plaintiffs argue that closing polling locations on Monday, a kind of last days, violated that requirement.
They sought reduction underneath a piece of the Texas Election Code that permits people or organizations to hunt courtroom intervention when they’re being harmed or are at risk of being harmed by a violation of election legislation.
Along with their statutory claims, the plaintiffs argued that limiting early voting entry imposes an unconstitutional burden on the elemental proper to vote.
