COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Some Cobb County voters' deadlines for returning their absentee ballots for the 2024 Presidential Election have been extended.
On Friday, Cobb County Superior Court Sr. Judge Robert Flournoy signed an order that extends the return deadline for the absentee ballots until Friday, Nov. 8
The order allows Cobb Elections to count the affected absentee ballots received by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, as long as they are postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5. The extension only applies to absentee ballots mailed after Wednesday, Oct. 30.
Voters who have yet to receive their absentee ballots may still vote in person on Election Day.
Additionally, the injunction also:
- Orders the Board of Elections to mail absentee ballots with prepaid express return envelopes by the end of the day on Nov. 1, 2024.
- Directs the Elections Department to segregate absentee ballots returned after 7 p.m. on Election Day and on or before 5 p.m. on Nov. 8 and keep them in a secure container.
- Requires the Elections Department to notify affected voters of the situation and this order via phone or email if contact information is available.
- Requires the Elections Department to provide a list of affected voters to all parties in the case.
The order comes after thousands of absentee ballots were delayed in Cobb County. According to a news release from Cobb County on Thursday, more than 3,000 absentee ballots requested by last Friday's deadline had still not been mailed as of Wednesday. Cobb County officials said more than 1,000 absentee ballots are being sent out of state, and they are working with UPS to expedite the ballots' delivery.
Cobb Elections said it processed approximately 3,200 applications late and sent them to voters via next-day mail or delivery with prepaid express return envelopes.
“We want to maintain voter trust by being transparent about the situation,” Board of Elections Chairwoman Tori Silas said in the release. “We are taking every possible step to get these ballots to the voters who requested them. Unfortunately, we were unprepared for the surge in requests and lacked the necessary equipment to process the ballots quickly.”
Cobb Elections added it had contracted a state-approved vendor to print and ship absentee ballots.
“After our vendor’s final run on Friday, we needed to utilize our in-house equipment for the final shipment of ballots, but the equipment was not working properly,” Elections Director Tate Fall said. “By the time we got the equipment online, the deadline for mailing the ballots had passed, prompting us to work with the US Postal Service and UPS to take extraordinary measures. Our team has been working around the clock to get the ballots out.”
On Friday, Civil Rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Southern Poverty Law Center, and ACLU of Georgia, announced a lawsuit to extend the return deadline for the more than 3,000 Cobb voters whose absentee ballots were delayed.
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