On Monday afternoon, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling that’s likely to disenfranchise thousands of absentee voters in Cobb County, GA, a key part of the Atlanta metropolitan area and one that strongly favored President Biden in 2020. Approximately 3,200 voters in Cobb County had “requested absentee ballots on time but did not receive them on time due to the county’s failure to mail them promptly,” according to an ACLU press release. A lower court had granted these voters an extension to Friday to turn in their absentee ballots after an emergency lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and SPLC.
However, on Monday afternoon, after a challenge by the Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in favor of the GOP. “Unfortunately, there are voters who…will not have their voices heard in this election as a result of this ruling,” stated the ACLU. “Election Day is Election Day — not the week after,” tweeted state GOP chairman Michael Watley. “We will keep fighting [and] keep winning.”
Earlier on Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, widely seen as a champion of election integrity after the 2020 elections for challenging Trump’s election denial efforts, held a press conference, urging election day readiness. “In the next few days, you may see some extra drama from fringe activists,” he said. “They are certainly dramatic, aren’t they?” Over the weekend, the GOP had launched another legal challenge, falsely claiming that it was illegal to hand-return absentee ballots over the weekend.
These developments are part of a broader battle playing out in swing states over mail-in ballots. President Biden won Georgia by a narrow margin in 2020 after Trump won the state in 2016 and the state has seen a round of election battles in the leadup to the election.
