ATLANTA — Georgia’s Secretary of State is warning voters who haven’t already sent in their absentee ballots that they should head to a secure drop box and not rely on the mail.
The news comes as more than 3 million voters have already cast their ballot in the 2020 election.
“We need to get those to the county election officials. Be safe and be smart. While you can mail it, I don’t think that’s the best idea to secure your vote there is simply a risk at this point of having the United States Post Office deliver your vote,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said.
Voter Stephanie Butler told Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray that she wasn’t taking chances with the mail for her 92-year-old father’s ballot
“He’s been quarantined since March so, and while voting is important, I said just fill it out and I’ll drop it off,” Butler said.
It has been record-setting turnout for absentee and early voting.
[INTERACTIVE MAP: Where can I drop off my absentee ballot in metro Atlanta?]
When you look at who is voting early, so far more than 1 million voters who did not vote at all in either the 2018 or 2020 primaries, have cast ballots.
So far more than 866,000 of the general election votes cast were by people who voted Democrat in the June primary compared to 658,000 Republicans.
With 3 days left of early voting, the secretary of state said you should expect volume to increase each day at early voting locations.
“From what we have seen historically, Friday will be the heaviest day for early voting,” Raffensperger said.
Raffensperger said Tuesday that he expects Georgia to top all 2016 voting of 4.1 million votes by the end of early voting on Friday, Oct. 30.
If you are voting absentee, you need to have your ballot either in a drop box of to your county’s election office by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3.
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