Georgia Supreme Court Blocks County From Counting Absentee Ballots After Election Day

The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that Cobb County may not accept absentee ballots after Election Day, overturning a lower court decision that extended the ballot receipt deadline to Nov. 8 for over 3,000 voters who received late ballots. In a Nov. 4 order, the state Supreme Court granted an emergency motion by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Georgia Republican Party, allowing only absentee ballots received by the statutory deadline of 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 to be counted in Cobb County. However, any absentee ballots from the “Affected Voters”—as defined by a lower court order—that are received after the Election Day deadline but before 5 p.m. on Nov. 8 will be kept separate and secure, not counted, and not destroyed until further order of the court, per the order. The Cobb County Board of Elections has been ordered to notify the affected voters that they are now subject to the Nov. 5 deadline, which a lower court previously extended....