Release via email:

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia, and Southern Poverty Law Center filed an emergency lawsuit to safeguard the voting rights of Cobb County voters. Cobb County admitted that they had failed to mail out more than 3,000 absentee ballots as required by statute, putting these voters at serious risk of being unable to make the existing November 5 deadline to return their ballots.

The legal action calls for immediate relief to ensure all affected voters can participate in the upcoming election. The complaint demands that Cobb County overnight the undelivered absentee ballots and extend the return deadline to November 8—aligning it with the deadline to cure provisional ballots. Current state law mandates absentee ballots be mailed within three days after applications are processed; however, Cobb County officials failed to meet this obligation for over 3,000 voters who applied before the deadline.

With Election Day approaching, these voters are still without their absentee ballots. Without immediate action, these voters may be denied their constitutional right to vote.

The oversight has highlighted the compounded difficulties brought on by Georgia’s S.B. 202, an anti-voter law that significantly reduces the time window for requesting and distributing absentee ballots, placing heightened pressure on election officials across the state.