The Georgia Supreme Court made a decision on Monday regarding a state judge's ruling that allowed over 3,000 voters in Cobb County extra time to return their absentee ballots due to a delay in sending them out by local election officials.
The court's brief order stated that only absentee ballots received by the statutory deadline of 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 5, 2024, will be counted. However, three justices dissented from the decision, and one justice was disqualified from participating.
The ruling specifically impacts a group of approximately 3,240 voters in the US who did not receive their absentee ballots on time. Overseas voters within this group will still have their ballots counted if postmarked by Election Day and received by November 8.
Local election officials have been directed by the Supreme Court to segregate any ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day but before 5 p.m. on November 8 and not to discard them until further court orders. The issue of whether these late-arriving ballots should be counted will be addressed post-election.
Republicans welcomed the court's decision, arguing that maintaining the extension granted by the Cobb County judge would effectively suspend state law for only a specific group of voters.
On the other hand, civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against the county, expressing concerns that the delay in sending out the ballots could disenfranchise thousands of voters who might struggle to return them in time for counting. The county attributed the delay to a sudden influx of last-minute absentee ballot applications.
