GA Court: Dem-Led County Can’t Accept 3K Late Absentee Ballots
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Cobb County, which is run by Democrats, cannot accept thousands of absentee ballots that were sent after Election Day. The issue arose when it was reported that over 3,000 absentee ballots had not been mailed by the deadline. Despite the county’s attempts to expedite the mailing of these ballots, the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit claiming that voters would be disenfranchised.
A lower court had allowed late ballots to be received until November 8 if postmarked by November 5, but this ruling was challenged by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Georgia Republican Party. They argued that state law requires absentee ballots to be returned by Election Day and that extending the deadline was unnecessary since voters had the option to vote in person or deliver their ballots personally.
The Georgia Supreme Court agreed with the RNC, pausing the lower court’s ruling, meaning late absentee ballots will not be counted and must be set aside until further notice. Voters who did not receive their ballots are still able to vote in person. The RNC celebrated the ruling, emphasizing the importance of adhering to the Election Day deadline.
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Democrat-run Cobb County cannot accept thousands of absentee ballots that arrive after the Election Day deadline.
Cobb County announced on Thursday that as of Oct. 30, “more than 3,000 absentee ballots requested by last Friday’s deadline had not been mailed.”
Cobb County Board of Elections Chairwoman Tori Silas said that the county was “taking every possible step to get these ballots to the voters who requested them” but that the county was “unprepared for the surge in requests and lacked the necessary equipment to process the ballots quickly.” While absentee ballot requests had “been averaging 440 per day … that number surged to 750 per day” during the final week to request an absentee ballot, the county said.
To remedy the issue, the county announced on Thursday that it would overnight the late ballots for a Friday morning (Nov. 1) delivery with “prepaid express return envelopes to ensure voters can return them by Tuesday’s deadline.”
But on Friday, the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a suit arguing that, despite the county taking steps to get the ballots delivered to voters by Friday, voters would be “disenfranchised.”
Cobb County Judge Robert Flournoy bought the bogus argument, ruling on Friday that the 3,000 or so voters who received a late mail-in ballot could return those ballots before 5 p.m. on Nov. 8 — three full days after Election Day — as long as the ballots were postmarked by 7 p.m. on Nov. 5.
The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party appealed the ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing that state law mandates the return of absentee ballots on Election Day and that since Cobb County paid for express return postage and overnighted the ballots to voters in order to — as Cobb County said — “ensure voters can return [the ballots] by Tuesday’s deadline,” there is no need to extend the date for acceptance.
The appeal also argued that Georgia “does not guarantee a right to vote by mail.” Rather, “Voters still have many options to vote, including by voting in person or delivering their absentee ballots in person.”
The Georgia Supreme Court agreed, granting the RNC and Georgia GOP’s motion to pause the lower court ruling. This means any late-arriving absentee ballots will not be counted. The court also ordered the late-arriving ballots sent in by the 3,000 voters to be segregated until further notice from the court.
Voters who did not receive their mail-in ballot may vote in person on Tuesday.
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley celebrated the ruling in a post on X.
“Democrat-run Cobb County wanted to accept 3,000 absentee ballots AFTER the Election Day deadline. We took this case to the Georgia Supreme Court. We just got word that we WON the case. Election Day is Election Day — not the week after,” Whatley said.
“We will keep fighting, keep winning, and keep sharing updates.”
For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.
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