COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Georgia Secretary of State has opened an investigation into why 3,400 absentee ballots weren’t mailed in a timely manner in Cobb County.
The week before Election Day, election officials announced delays in mailing the ballots after they said they received a massive surge of last-minute requests and experienced problems with equipment.
Not long after that announcement, civil rights groups filed a lawsuit that listed three plaintiffs who said they didn’t receive absentee ballots after submitting requests.
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A Cobb County Superior Court judge ordered an extension on when ballots could be returned and counted, for those impacted. The deadline was set for November 8 at 5:00 p.m. Prior to the ruling, election officials had already begun working with the postal service to quickly express mail 3,400 absentee ballots with express return envelopes.
As voters began to receive ballots, the Republican National Committee appealed the Cobb County judge’s decision to extend the deadline, citing election code violations as the reason.
The day before Election Day, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision to extend the deadline, which meant voters who were impacted had to vote in person or get their absentee ballot to the County election office on Election Day.
Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell spoke to out-of-state college students who were waiting anxiously to receive their ballots.
One student said she received her ballot the day before Election Day, overnighted it to the Cobb County Elections Office and it made it in time, but others say they never received theirs.
A mother whose daughter attends college in another state said her daughter began experiencing problems on the first day voters could request absentee ballots.
“This is an issue that a lot of people were not heard in this election and it wasn’t their fault,” said Eve Whitaker.
Even though the problem began before Election Day, it remains on the minds of impacted voters.
“The first day that you could order an absentee ballot, she had difficulties. It wouldn’t process,” said Whitaker.
Whitaker said her daughter experienced problems requesting an absentee ballot after she filled everything out correctly and submitted the request.
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Whitaker said the problems began on the first day you could submit an absentee ballot request. She said election officials were unable to find her daughter’s name in their systems.
“They couldn’t verify they had any record that she applied for a ballot, an absentee ballot,” said Whitaker.
Whitaker has emails showing conversations between her family and election officials about the problem. Whitaker said election officials eventually found her daughter’s information.
“Ten days after the last time she attempted to apply for a ballot she got a notification it was accepted,” said Whitaker.
Whitaker said her daughter eventually received an absentee ballot and was able to mail it in time. She said the elections office received it days before Election Day.
Newell spoke with voters on Election Day who told her they received ballots in time and dropped them off in time.
“As it was shared with me the issue was the equipment that we needed to have serviced in house with regard to printing those ballots and the surge in that final wake,” said Cobb County Board of Elections Chairwoman Tori Silas.
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