In Cobb County Georgia, an investigation led by election officials has shown that more than 1,000 residents who are registered to vote as absentees are expecting ballots that were never sent out.
Cobb County elections officials have now paid for overnight delivery of 83 ballots to out-of-state voters. This includes pre-paid return envelopes. They also added that anyone who does not receive their ballot in time should try to vote in person on Tuesday.
Elections and Registrations Director Janine Eveler has disclosed that this is due to an error made by new staff that failed to follow the required procedures. According to the investigation around 1,046 requests went unfulfilled.
In a message sent to the Board of Elections and Registrations, Eveler said that she was sorry that these voters had been let down. She added that a large number of the absentee staff are working 80 hours or more per week, but their exhaustion is still not a valid “excuse for such a critical error.”
Cobb County voter Diane Norris told FOX 5 Atlanta, that voting is a privilege that American people have, and this “human error” took this right away from people. Norris and her husband were originally planning to vote-by mail.
Cobb County election officials and staff members shipped out 277 absentee ballots with prepaid overnight return envelopes. Around 271 residents canceled their absentee request so that they could proceed with voting in-person early.
Norris noted that they had managed to vote in time, but that the entire incident made voting harder for people who were forced to go out and vote in person.
