In another blow to republican voting blockades, a federal judge in the District Court for the Southern District of Texas blocked a lawsuit that would have blocked Texas voters from easily voting a “straight party” ticket, the Texas Tribune reports.

State republicans passed a law in 2017 banning the practice, which allows voters to check one box at the top of the printed ballot or touchscreen to vote for all the candidates from one political party, stating that such a ban would require voters to make more informed voters.

Many groups joined forces to fight the law, saying that banning “straight ticket” voting would cause confusion and longer lines at polling places, as well as unnecessarily increasing the risk that voters might become exposed to coronavirus.

Among the groups filing suit against the state were Texas Association for Retired Americans and the Texas Democratic Party.  They were joined by voting rights advocates who noted that in Texas urban areas, which have much longer ballots than rural areas, manually selecting candidates in each race would unreasonable increase the times to vote.

In 2018, about two-thirds of Texas voters used the straight-ticket option on their ballots.

Texas republicans are also likely concerned that the dropping popularity of President Trump in the state would inspire voters to vote against all republicans on the ticket, harming down-ticket races.  Conversely, GOP leaders have expressed concerned that Trump supporters would only mark the ballot for the Trump and leave down-ticket races blank.