Election officials in multiple Georgia counties are working to resolve complaints that voters are not receiving their absentee ballots ahead of Election Day, after lawsuits filed by voting groups alleged thousands of ballots never arrived.
In Gwinnett and Cobb counties, officials have said they will contact voters who have not received the absentee ballots they requested after a pair of lawsuits in the past week claimed that nearly 5,000 residents in both counties did not receive their requested absentee ballots. The lawsuit in Cobb County, filed by the left-wing Elias Law Group on behalf of an affected resident, claimed roughly 2,900 voters did not receive their absentee ballots. The county released a statement last week acknowledging that “a limited number of voters who requested an absentee-by-mail ballot may have experienced a delay in receiving their ballot” and pinned the blame on the ballot vendor.
“In order to address the delays caused by the county’s third-party vendor, Cobb BOER, will provide voters whose ballots were issued during that time period (Oct.7 through Oct. 15) an opportunity to request a new absentee ballot to be mailed to them by priority express mail, with a prepaid return priority express envelope,” the county’s statement said.
Gwinnett County was sued by a coalition of left-wing voting rights groups, including the ACLU, SPLC, and Legal Defense Fund, over the weekend, claiming that 1,820 residents did not receive their mail ballots. The race to resolve the alleged absentee ballot issues comes after the county had to make last-minute changes to some polling locations.
The two counties voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election and will be key to deciding the two major statewide races in the Peach State, for governor and Senate. Trump won Georgia in the 2024 election over Harris despite losing these two counties.
The Senate race in Georgia will see Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) attempt to hold off a challenge from Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), while the gubernatorial race will see Republican Rick Jackson square off against former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to replace term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA). The Cook Political Report has rated the Georgia Senate race as “likely Democratic,” while the governor’s race has been rated as a “toss-up.”
Control of both chambers of Congress will be contested in Tuesday’s midterm election, with Republicans and Democrats making spirited efforts to take the House and the Senate for the final two years of Trump’s last term in the White House. With the high stakes of the elections, late-breaking litigation over voting is expected in key battleground states on Tuesday and in the days following the election.
HOW THE SUPREME COURT SHAPED THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS
The two most high-profile election lawsuits heading into Tuesday’s vote have come in California and Alaska.
In the Golden State, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to intervene in a legal battle over California’s voter rolls, asking the justices to issue an emergency order separating mail ballots associated with more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens. The Supreme Court denied that request late Monday. In Alaska, the administration is appealing a lawsuit seeking to delay certification of the state’s Senate election if incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) loses, after allegations of a Democrat-backed spoiler campaign led by allies of Senate candidate Mary Peltola emerged last week. A federal district judge tossed the lawsuit Sunday, leading the administration to appeal to a federal appeals court.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
