Two major civil rights organizations have filed a lawsuit calling for the state of Georgia to extend the deadline for absentee ballots in Cobb County after about 1,000 voters failed to receive the ballots they requested.
Election officials in the county announced last Friday that 1,046 absentee ballots that had been requested were never sent.
"I am very disappointed that we have placed these voters in a position where they may not have an opportunity to cast their ballots in this general election," Board of Elections Chair Tori Silas said in a statement. "While human error was clearly a factor, I believe reduced time frames for the receipt of requests for and processing of absentee ballot provided under SB202, as well as the turnover in the Elections office, are also significant factors."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and the Southern Poverty Law Center have joined in filing a lawsuit on behalf of some of the affected voters calling on the Cobb County Superior Court to send mail-in ballots overnight to the remaining voters in need and to extend the deadline for returning a ballot until the same date that overseas ballots are required to be received, Nov. 14.
"Hundreds of eligible Cobb County voters did everything right and yet find themselves on the brink of total disenfranchisement because they were never mailed their absentee ballots, as is required under Georgia law," Jonathan Topaz, a staff attorney for the ACLU, said in a statement according to The Hill.
"Even Cobb County has acknowledged they made a 'critical error' and 'let these voters down,'" he continued. "Only this court can right the wrong done to these hundreds of voters and ensure that they are able to exercise their fundamental right to vote in this November election."
Rahul Garabadu, senior voting rights attorney with the ACLU of Georgia, blamed the state’s new voting law, the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which changed how absentee voting works in the state, for the issue.
"The anti-voter law put tremendous pressure on elections officials to accomplish a number of responsibilities under a very tight deadline, and in Cobb County, that pressure has resulted in a huge error and hundreds of voters at risk of being disenfranchised," Garabadu said. "We are suing to make sure all Cobb County voters are able to have their voices heard, and we look forward to the day when the state partners with counties to make voting easier, not harder, for all Georgians."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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