Election Law
Top Georgia court blocks extended deadline for county voters who received late-mailed ballots
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday blocked Cobb County, Georgia, election officials from counting a block of absentee ballots if they are received after 7 p.m. on Election Day. (Image from Shutterstock)
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday blocked Cobb County, Georgia, election officials from counting a block of absentee ballots if they are received after 7 p.m. on Election Day.
The state supreme court granted a Republican emergency request, report Reuters, the Hill, Fox 5 Atlanta, United Press International and WSB-TV.
The Georgia Supreme Court affected Cobb County voters who requested ballots on time but did not receive them until shortly before Election Day. The state supreme court said any of those ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day should be kept separate but not counted.
More than 3,000 voters were affected, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Cobb County is a racially diverse suburban area north of Atlanta, according to Reuters.
Tori Silas, chair of the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration, issued a statement noting that the Georgia Supreme Court order addressed only a motion for a stay, according to WSB-TV.
“We will anticipate the supreme court’s final ruling to see whether it ultimately allows these voters additional time to return their ballots or whether we must only count those received by the close of polls on Tuesday,” Silas said.
As a result of the Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling, voters in suburban Cobb County should vote in person on Election Day or deliver their absentee ballots by 7 p.m. that day, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a Nov. 4 press release.
A lower court judge, Senior Judge Robert E. Flournoy III of Georgia, had extended the absentee deadline on Nov. 1 in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the ACLU of Georgia and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Georgia law requires ballots to be sent within three days of an application, according to the ACLU.
Flournoy had ordered the absentee ballots of affected Cobb County voters to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received by 5 p.m. on Nov. 8.
