DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News is working to get to the bottom of a claim by the Democratic Party of Georgia that thousands of voters in one metro county never got absentee ballots they asked for.
Democrats are saying that as many as 4,700 requests are “lost” in DeKalb County.
“There is absolutely no doubt that there are 4,700 absentee ballot applications that were submitted to the post office and were sent out by the post office,” said Rep. Hank Johnson.
Johnson, who represents portions of DeKalb County, stands by the claim that as many as 4,700 voters never received the absentee-by-mail ballots they requested.
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Both DeKalb County and state election leaders told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Aaron Diamant that they're still investigating the claim, but the evidence given to them so far doesn't prove anything.
"I can't see any registrar in Georgia putting their entire career at risk," Channel 2 Political Analyst Bill Crane said Friday. "And it would be almost impossible to hide 4,000-plus absentee ballot applications if they had come in."
A spokesperson for the Georgia Secretary of State told Channel 2 Action News that DeKalb County Elections Officials can account for all returned absentee ballot applications, but the office will continue to review the complaint.
The DeKalb County DeKalb County Board of Voter Registration and Elections sent Diamant a statement, saying:
"DeKalb County Board of Voter Registration and Elections maintains that it has been unable to confirm that there are any missing or lost absentee ballot request forms.
"County officials have physically searched the elections offices and the county’s mail processing center and have found no misplaced absentee ballot request forms."