The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of three Cobb County, Georgia voters, seeking an extension of the ballot receipt deadline for over 3,000 county residents who have yet to receive their mail-in ballots.
The plaintiffs argue that “more than 3,000 other lawfully registered Cobb County voters are on the brink of disenfranchisement in the November 5 election.” According to the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration, a surge of last-minute absentee ballot requests and equipment malfunctions prevented the timely mailing of ballots. As reported Thursday, the board failed to send thousands of absentee ballots within the three-day processing window.
“After our vendor’s final run on Friday, we needed to utilize our in-house equipment for the final shipment of ballots, but the equipment was not working properly,” explained Elections Director Tate Fall. “By the time we got the equipment online, the deadline for mailing the ballots had passed.” To mitigate the issue, election workers have been using expedited delivery services, with most ballots expected to be sent by Friday morning to ensure delivery before Election Day.
Despite these measures, Georgia requires mail-in ballots to be received by the close of polls on Election Day to be counted. Cobb County has provided options for voters who have not received their ballots, including extended hours at the Elections Headquarters for drop-off and in-person voting on Friday or Election Day.
The plaintiffs argue these options are insufficient, as voters would be left with only one business day to return ballots. Two plaintiffs, college students residing out of state, cannot return home to vote in person. The lawsuit requests that the state court extend the ballot receipt deadline for affected voters by applying the same leniency granted to military and overseas voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), allowing ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received within three days.
With just four days until Election Day, the plaintiffs are seeking urgent intervention, and the court held a hearing Friday afternoon. Notably, a similar lawsuit in Cobb County before the 2022 election led the Superior Court to extend the ballot deadline for affected voters.
Read the lawsuit here.
