Early voting in Texas began Tuesday with crowds of excited voters waiting in line for several hours to cast their ballot in some places, even as new legal developments sowed confusion and threatened to restrict options for voting ahead of Election Day.

As they have in other states, long lines formed outside voting locations as socially distanced voters sometimes turned up hours before early in-person voting began Tuesday morning. Many brought folding chairs, lunches and umbrellas to wait their turn.

Meanwhile, a federal panel of judges overturned a lower-court ruling in Texas that had allowed counties across the state to offer multiple locations for voters to drop off their absentee ballots in person. And election officials contended with a new lawsuit from the Texas GOP seeking to block the Harris County clerk from allowing any registered voter to vote in person from their cars or at the curb — options that appeared popular Tuesday amid coronavirus concerns….

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Election officials in the state’s most-populous counties anticipated a record number of voters would cast their ballots before Election Day, taking advantage of six additional days of early voting and new options like drop boxes and drive-through sites for those who want to avoid exposure to the novel coronavirus or potential mail delays.

More than 109,000 people voted in Harris County as of Tuesday evening, setting a new turnout record for a single day of early voting, according to the county clerk’s office….

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