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Texans cannot request mail-in ballots based on a fear of catching the new coronavirus at the polls, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, the latest development in a high-stakes fight over voting in the nation’s second-largest state. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked an injunction from a federal judge last month that gave Texans the right to request mail-in ballots during the pandemic. “The spread of the virus has not given ‘unelected federal judges’ a roving commission to rewrite state election codes,” Judge Jerry Smith wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. (Findell, 6/4)

District Judge Fred Biery had issued a decision in May that expanded mail-in voting by allowing the state's "disability" election provision to apply to all registered voters under age 65, who currently have to provide excuses when applying for absentee ballots. Texas' election code defines "disability" as "a sickness or physical condition that prevents the voter from appearing at the polling place on election day without a likelihood of needing personal assistance or of injuring the voter's health." (Mena, 6/5)

In issuing his preliminary injunction, Biery cited the irreparable harm voters would face if existing age eligibility rules for voting by mail were in place for elections held while the new coronavirus remains in wide circulation. In his appeal to the 5th Circuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Biery's injunction threatened "irreparable injury" to the state "by injecting substantial confusion into the Texas voting process mere days before ballots are distributed and weeks before runoff elections." Siding with Paxton, the 5th Circuit panel in part found that requiring Texas officials to institute voting by mail for all against their will would present “significant, irreparable harm” to the state. The panel pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s standing that lower federal courts should “ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election.” (Ura, 6/4)

A Tennessee state court ruled Thursday that any registered voter in the state can qualify for mail-in voting. Unlike some other states, voters in Tennessee must cite an excuse for why they are not voting in-person. Outside of the ruling, which only applies to elections taking place this year, only people who are sick, disabled, traveling or elderly are eligible for mail-in voting in the state. (Moreno, 6/4)

One of New York City's congressional primaries is among the progressive movement's best hopes for a repeat of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's upset win in 2018. Another could deal a blow to that movement. In one district that touches the north end of the Bronx, a three-decade incumbent, white congressman will have to fend off a challenge from a progressive, black candidate just weeks after getting caught on a hot mic saying he “wouldn’t care” about speaking on the city's civil unrest if he didn’t have a primary to win. (Durkin, 6/5)