Record 1 million absentee ballot requests sent to state election officials so far

ATLANTA — Georgia reached a new milestone today. More voters have requested absentee ballots for the upcoming June 9 primary than ever before in state history.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says his office has received a 1 million absentee ballot requests so far. He thinks that number will go higher.

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot is at the state Capitol, where the Georgia secretary of state explained the push for absentee voting.

“650,000 ballots have already been placed in the mail to voters, so they can vote from the safety of their own homes,” Raffensperger said. "Our goal was two fold: to keep voters safe and to take the pressure off our in-person voting locations.

The absentee ballot process has not come without some controversy. There was an issue with one of the envelopes included in the ballot request forms. There’s also a federal lawsuit still pending.

The ACLU contends forcing voters to pay postage on those ballots is akin to an illegal poll tax. A judge is still considering that issue.

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Georgia originally scheduled the primary for March 24 but pushed it back to May 19 before the state moved it again to June 9.

The voter registration deadline is now May 11 and early voting is expected to begin May 18.

Absentee ballot applications for the upcoming primary election will continue to be accepted and processed by counties even if the application said May 19.

Once county election officials properly verify the signature on the application, the voter will be sent an absentee ballot for the primary election now to be held on June 9.

For more information about the status of your absentee ballot, visit My Voter Page, mvp.sos.ga.gov.

Death, illness and a pandemic: COVID-19 pushing election officials to brink ahead of primary Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray has learned that June?s primary election is going to be unlike any election day we?ve ever seen.

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