Georgia’s highest court docket on Monday dominated that hundreds of Cobb County voters who acquired their ballots late is not going to have their votes instantly counted if their ballots are acquired by officers after Election Day, a choice that sided with nationwide Republicans.
The Georgia Supreme Courtroom mentioned that these ballots, which Cobb County officers admitted they didn’t ship out on time, should be put aside pending additional litigation if they don’t seem to be returned by Tuesday at 7 p.m., the deadline beneath current state legislation and time polls shut within the state.
A Cobb County choose beforehand prolonged the deadline till 5 p.m. on Friday — the identical receipt deadline for uniformed and abroad voters — so long as the ballots had been postmarked by the shut of polls on Election Day.
The Republican Nationwide Committee (RNC) and Georgia Republican Social gathering appealed that call on to the state’s highest court docket, arguing that Georgia legislation plainly requires that “‘all absentee ballots’ should be ‘returned’ on ‘the day’ of the ‘election.’”
“The Superior Court’s deviation from the Legislature’s instruction is baseless,” attorneys for the state and nationwide Republicans wrote. “The Plaintiffs claim a burden on their right to vote, but the Georgia Constitution does not guarantee a right to vote by mail. Voters still have many options to vote, including by voting in person or delivering their absentee ballots in person.”
Georgia’s American Civil Liberties Union, which introduced the preliminary lawsuit on the behalf of three affected voters, urged different affected voters to as a substitute forged their ballots in individual or ship their absentee ballots by hand to county election officers by the up to date deadline.
“If neither is an option, we urge voters to immediately send their ballot back to the county via overnight delivery, if possible. Only as a last resort, should voters simply mail their ballots,” the group mentioned in a press launch. “Unfortunately, there are voters who will not be able to access the remaining options and will not have their voices heard in this election as a result of this ruling.”
The Georgia Supreme Courtroom ordered the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration to inform the affected voters of their Election Day deadline by e mail, textual content message and a public announcement on the board’s web site.
The panel additionally famous that the ruling doesn’t pertain to voters casting ballots beneath the federal legislation for uniformed and abroad absentee voters.
Georgia is a important battleground state that would assist sway the end result of the presidential election. President Biden beat former President Trump by 14 proportion factors in Cobb County in 2020, and finally, narrowly received the state.
