But at least 10,000 envelopes for absentee ballots for military service members have been organized and printed — with the now-uncertain March 6 primary date.

“Everybody has to handle these 10,000 all over again, because I’m not going to throw them out,” Ms. Callanen said Wednesday. “We have to have the jurisdictions to tie to the addresses before we can even think about holding an election. We’re at a standstill. We’re at an absolute standstill.”

The day before, at a hearing that had been called by the three-judge panel here to figure out when to hold the primary, officials from several counties, including Ms. Callanen, testified that splitting the primary into two elections would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and would probably confuse voters and hurt turnout. The top elected official in Maverick County in South Texas, County Judge David Saucedo, told the panel that he did not know where the county would get the more than $170,000 needed to run an additional primary and runoff, adding that he would have to let go of a few employees.

“We would have to downsize in other departments,” Judge Saucedo said.

Throughout the day, the activity in the courtroom resembled not so much a hearing as a brainstorming session. During breaks, lawyers for the state Democratic and Republican Parties huddled together, encouraged to do so by the three judges, who had as many questions as the lawyers did. One set of maps, drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature, would help Republicans maintain their power in Congressional and State House and Senate districts. The other set, created by the three federal judges, would increase the power of Democrats and Hispanic and black voters, by giving them as many as four additional seats in Congress and about a dozen in the State House. The primaries had been scheduled for March 6, with runoffs on May 22 and the general election on Nov. 6.

Democrats and lawyers for the Texas Democratic Party are pushing for a single unified primary to be held, whether on March 6 or some later date.

The question has divided Republicans. Many Republican lawmakers — including 15 of the state’s 19 Republican state senators — want a single primary as well, but lawyers for the Republican Party of Texas and its chairman have suggested holding the presidential and statewide primaries on March 6 as planned, and conducting the other elections at some later date. Lawyers for Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state was not taking a position on whether to split the primary, and deferred the matter to the political parties.

Republican Party lawyers questioned whether the federal court had jurisdiction to move the dates of the presidential and statewide primaries, since none of those elections are part of the case before the judges. Republicans could benefit from having the presidential primary remain on March 6, giving Texas a voice on Super Tuesday. And an early primary rather than a later one could also benefit Mr. Perry, the Republican governor, who has struggled in the presidential race recently.