A Texas judge said Wednesday that all state voters can cast ballots by mail because of coronavirus, siding with Democrats and rejecting the state’s GOP leadership.

The ruling by Judge Tim Sulak was announced by the Texas Democratic Party and the ACLU, which called it a major voting-rights victory.

“Voters should not have to choose between their lives or their right to vote,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of the state Democrats.

Word of the ruling came just hours after Attorney General Ken Paxton had said coronavirus fears should not count as a disability triggering the state’s limited mail-in voting provisions.

Texas law only allows mail-in voting for voters who have a specific disability or condition that makes getting to the polling place a hurdle.

State Democrats and voting-rights groups say the COVID-19 situation qualifies, creating conditions that all voters suffer harm if they show up on Election Day.

The judge, ruling from the bench, agreed.

But Mr. Paxton, in a letter to the state legislature earlier in the day, had said that would distort the law.

He said someone must suffer a “sickness or physical condition” in order to vote by mail.

That means someone who was actually ill with COVID-19 and who can’t make it in-person to the polls could use the mail option, but fear of contracting the disease isn’t a valid disability under state law.

“Mail ballots based on disability are specifically reserved for those who are physically ill and cannot vote in-person as a result,” he wrote in his letter. “The integrity of our democratic election process must be maintained, and law established by our legislature must be followed consistently.”

He said obtaining a ballot under false pretenses is a violation of the law.

And he also said anyone who urges a voter to cast a mail-in ballot based solely on fear of COVID-19 could also face criminal sanctions.

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