In the homestretch of the presidential election, absentee ballot drop boxes in Oregon and Washington state were set on fire Monday, spoiling hundreds of ballots. That’s unlikely to happen in Georgia.
In the wake of Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory in 2020, Republican state lawmakers overhauled Georgia election law, limiting absentee ballot drop box access and locations in response to mistrust generated by the unprecedented number of absentee and mail-in votes cast during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 law capped the number of drop boxes to one for every 100,000 registered voters, a contrast from the widely available drop boxes in the 2020 general election. The statute also limited drop box locations to inside early voting locations during hours of operation, which makes it unlikely that a drop box will be set on fire this year.
But fire isn’t the only worry for Georgians casting absentee ballots. The U.S. Postal Service advised mail-in voters that if they have not sent in their ballots by Tuesday — one week before Election Day on Nov. 5 — they should return them by hand at county election offices or deposit them into a drop box.
Officials with the Postal Service said they are taking “extraordinary measures” to ensure ballots are delivered on time to be counted for this year’s election, but there is no guarantee. Left-leaning voting rights organizations say it’s already too late and are urging voters to cast their ballots in person.
So far, over 340,000 Georgia voters have requested absentee ballots, and about 187,000 have been returned. Voters who requested an absentee ballot can still vote in person. Election officials request those voters bring their absentee ballots with them if they choose to vote in person instead.
More than 3 million Georgians have cast their ballots so far, and the state may hit the 4 million milestone by Friday, the last day to vote early.
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