Georgia county says thousands of absentee ballots were mailed late

Georgia’s third-largest county said thousands of absentee ballots are being mailed out late before the Nov. 5 election.

Election officials in Cobb County, which is north of Atlanta, were using U.S. Postal Service express mail and UPS overnight delivery to send more than 3,000 ballots to voters on time.

Late absentee ballots were mailed in prepaid express return envelopes, which election workers said would ensure the ballots could be returned on time.

Mail-in ballots must be returned by Election Day, Tuesday, to be counted.

Cobb County election officials said voters affected by late ballots can still vote in person on the last day of early voting Friday or on Election Day Tuesday.

The county election office planned to remain open to accept hand-delivered absentee ballots on weekends and Mondays. However, the Board of Elections said more than 1,000 late absentee ballots were sent to out-of-state people.

Electoral officials “take every possible step”

Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration President Tori Silas said Thursday, “We want to maintain voter confidence by being transparent about the situation.”

“We are making every effort to send these ballots to the voters who requested them,” added Silas.

Silas said the delay in sending out absentee ballots was caused by faulty equipment and a delayed influx of absentee ballot requests in the week before the Oct. 25 deadline.

Civil rights groups sue over late absentee ballots

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit Friday to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots stamped until Election Day or three days later.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three Cobb County voters who said their ballots had not yet been delivered as of Friday.

The lawsuit said that while Cobb County election officials “have taken some steps to help alleviate the problem, those actions are not nearly enough to protect their right to vote.”

Record early turnout in Georgia

Georgia has registered a record number of ballots since early voting began on October 15. As of Thursday, more than 3.6 million ballots had been cast, according to Georgia’s secretary of state. Brad Raffenspergerhis office.

This number of early voters represents more than half of Georgia’s active voters and includes more than 226,000 absentees.

Georgia is one of seven swing states that will determine the outcome of the presidential election in a close race between former President Donald TrumpTHE Republican nominee and vice president Kamala Harristhe democratic candidate.

Polls show Trump leading Harris by 1.7 points in Georgia (48.7 percent to 47 percent) as of Friday, poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight says.

This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.