Metro Atlanta counties contacting voters after lawsuit over midterm absentee ballot issues
Election officials in two metro Atlanta counties are working to contact voters who may be affected by delays impacting absentee ballots.
The move comes after civil rights organizations filed an emergency lawsuit against the Gwinnett County Board of Registrations and Elections last week over alleged issues with an out-of-state vendor.
The emergency lawsuit alleged that more than 1,800 lawfully-registered voters in the county had requested an absentee ballot. While the ballot has been marked as issued for the voters by New York-based Fort Orange Press, they had not arrived as of Friday.
No voter should lose their voice because an absentee ballot they requested never made it to their mailbox," said ACLU Voting Rights Project attorney Will Hughes. "With Election Day just days away, Gwinnett County voters deserve immediate action to ensure they have a meaningful opportunity to cast their ballots and have them counted. We're asking the court to step in because protecting the right to vote means making sure every eligible voter can actually exercise it."
Over the weekend, Southern Poverty Law Center said that it made separate agreements with Gwinnett and DeKalb counties to individually contact voters who have not yet returned their ballots to inform them that they can request a replacement. Those ballots would be sent overnight with the county covering the return postage cost.
A similar lawsuit was filed in Cobb County over absentee ballot delays last week. While attorneys representing the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registrations acknowledged that there were some delays, they disagreed with the scope of the lawsuit.
Absentee ballots must be received no later than 7 p.m. on Tuesday to count. Voters who have not received their ballot can head to the polls on Election Day to vote in person, as long as they sign a document attesting that they are only voting once in the election.
Gwinnett County elections officials encourage any voters who have questions, concerns, or need confirmation of their absentee ballot status to call the county's office at 678-226-7210.
