On Tuesday, the Texas Supreme Court granted the counting of more than 2,000 votes cast in Harris County during an extended period of Election Day voting.
Harris County, Texas's most populous county, experienced a string of ballot shortages and voting machine issues on Election Day, according to Fox News. The issues led to a judge extending voting times from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. — one hour past state law voting times.
But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenged that ruling in a petition on Monday.
And on Tuesday, the state's Supreme Court ruled that the votes can count. But they added the votes should be segregated to determine if ones cast after 7:00 p.m. would alter the outcome of any races.
"As part of the canvass," the Texas Supreme Court says in its ruling, "respondents are ordered to separately identify in the vote tabulations the number of 'later cast votes' for each candidate in each race and for or against each proposition, so that candidates, the parties, and this Court may ascertain whether the 'later cast votes' would be outcome-determinative and so that the parties can assess the extent to which further litigation is warranted."
During Election Day, multiple polling places in Harris County did not open at 7:00 a.m. In one election location, the BakerRipley House in downtown Houston didn't open for four hours because officials lost a key.
Additionally, some reports indicated ballot shortages and understaffing occurred in a number of Harris County's 782 polling locations.
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