Texas governor extends early voting for November election by nearly a week

(Image credit: Lynda M. Gonzalez-Pool/Getty Images)

published 27 July 2020

Texas is one of the states that does not accept concerns about the coronavirus as a valid reason to vote absentee. So unless Texans have another justification, they will likely have to line up in person to vote in the November election, despite the Lone Star state being a virus hot spot. But Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday announced an extension of early in-person voting by nearly a week, a move he said should help reduce crowd size and make it easier to keep transmission down this fall.

While there are surely Texas voters who would prefer vote-by-mail to expand, Abbott has received some bipartisan praise for at least trying to find a middle ground. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.