ATLANTA — In a news conference in early September, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that up to 50 percent of Georgia voters were expected to vote absentee for the 2020 General Election.
He said this compares to about 5 percent in an average election cycle.
While voters are going to be using the absentee balloting system in exceedingly large numbers this year, one thing that voters will want to know is whether or not their vote has arrived in the right place, and is being counted accurately.
After you have filled your absentee ballot out, signed it, sealed it, and placed it in the provided envelope, you can send it via first-class US Mail after placing postage on the envelope.
The envelope provided by the state with the ballot is not postage paid. You must place a stamp on the envelope if you plan to send it via US Mail.
An alternative is to deliver your sealed ballot envelope to your county registrar's office. The secretary of state's office lists the address and phone number for each county registrar's office (call for office hours).
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Most counties in Georgia -- but not all -- have absentee ballot drop boxes, which will allow voters from that particular county to conveniently drop off their ballots outside of business hours. Your county's election board website will have details regarding the location of those drop boxes.
Regardless of how you choose to deliver your ballot to your county's election board, all ballots must arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day -- Tuesday, November 3 -- in order to be counted.
Just like a package sent through FedEx or UPS, you can check the status of your absentee ballot once you have submitted it.
The Secretary of State's My Voter Page includes a section that indicates the status of your absentee ballot once you have submitted it.
Registered Georgia voters can log into that page with their first initial, last name, county and date of birth.
Once you log in, in the lower right quadrant of the page, there is a link titled "Click here for Absentee Ballot status."
You'll be presented with a window telling you if your ballot was accepted or not. If not, you'll be directed to your county's election office for further instructions.