A federal judge on Friday ordered Texas officials to allow straight-ticket voting for the Nov. 3 election, ruling that a state law ending the practice would endanger voters by causing longer lines at polling places during the pandemic. The ruling, coming only 18 days before early voting was set to begin, will cause problems for election officials who must reprogram voting machine software and reconfigure ballots, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo acknowledged in her ruling. “The substantial injury to (voters) is outweighed by the inconvenience,” the Laredo judge wrote.