A US judge on Friday blocked an order from the Texas governor reducing the number of sites that voters can drop off their ballots for the upcoming presidential elections. Democrats had alleged that the governor’s order amounted to voter suppression. The US presidential elections are scheduled to be held on November 3.

The order, issued in early October by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, limited the number of drop-off centers to one per county, even as mail-in voting is expected to become much more popular due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Abbott had justified the move by claiming that it would help curb ‘illegal voting’. The statement was in line with views expressed by US President Donald Trump. Trump frequently claims without evidence that postal ballots are a source of massive vote fraud.

But in a decision published Friday following a challenge by voting rights advocates, federal judge Robert Pitman blocked the order, arguing it “restricts the rights of some voters, those who qualify to vote absentee in larger, more populous counties.”

The order also added to voter confusion, Pitman’s 46-page decision said, and would force voters to travel further to cast their ballot and wait in longer lines to vote, leading to greater risks of exposure to the virus.

Claims that the order would reduce voter fraud had no “factual support,” he added.

Texas has been a Republican stronghold, but Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been making steady inroads. Texas also has some of the most populous counties in the country. More than 2.3 million voters live in Harris County, which includes Houston.

Under Abbott’s order, 11 of its 12 drop-off points had been scheduled to close.

The Texas Democrats tweeted that the blocking of the order was a “big win for Texas voters.”

“Frankly, it ought to be a shock to all of us that such a ruling is even required,” Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said, according to local paper the Austin American-Statesman.

The state’s attorney general was likely to appeal the ruling, it added.

Mail-in votes can be dropped off at dedicated ballot boxes as an alternative to using the under-press.