The State Election Board agreed Wednesday to extend a pair of emergency rules allowing local election offices to continue offering drop boxes for absentee ballots and to again start processing ballots early.
But while those rules are receiving nearly universal support from election officials and voting rights watchdogs alike, the debate lingers over the best way to reach voters interested in voting absentee. At this point, a new online portal – where voters can go to request an absentee ballot – is being considered instead of the mass mailings of unsolicited absentee ballot applications seen in the primary.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ordered a large-scale absentee ballot application push for last month’s twice-delayed election after Gov. Brian Kemp declared a public health emergency in April as coronavirus cases in the state spiked.
A record 1 million absentee ballots were submitted for the primary election, delaying some final election tallies for days after the last polls closed late on June 9. Election officials are also looking to avoid repeating some of the problems, including the scenes of voters in socially distanced lines stretched out of buildings all across metro Atlanta’s Fulton County and beyond. Many voters reported trying to avoid the mayhem – and potential exposure to COVID-19 – by requesting an absentee ballot that never came.
Raffensperger has indicated he doesn’t plan to do another round of large-scale absentee applications for August runoffs or the November general election, when President Donald Trump will face re-election and two U.S. Senate races will be on Georgia ballots. Three times as many voters are expected to cast a ballot this fall.
Instead, the secretary of state’s office is proposing an online portal that would allow voters access to sign up for absentee ballots.
Election board member David Worley said he believes the state should again mail absentee applications to the 6.9 million active registered voters, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t appear to be ending soon.
“I think the conditions that led to the mailing of those absentee ballot applications continue and will be continuing in the months leading up to the November election,” Worley said. “I think it’ll be imperative for the secretary to do that again.”