Civil Rights Groups File Emergency Lawsuit to Ensure Cobb County Absentee Voters Have Time to Cast Their Ballots

ATLANTA – 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.

"There is a direct link between Georgia’s restrictive voting laws, flurry of last minute rules, and Cobb County’s failure to deliver ballots by the deadline,” said Theresa J. Lee, senior staff attorney, at the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “These voters followed the right steps to elect their leaders, yet stand on the brink of disenfranchisement due to bureaucratic errors that the increased burdens on voters and local officials have only worsened. The county must remedy this immediately and ensure these voters are not deprived of their fundamental right to vote.”

“Voters risk not having their voices heard in this important election because counties have been set up to fail by Georgia’s anti-voter law,” said Andrea Young, executive director, ACLU of Georgia. “We are fighting to ensure the right to vote for college students, people with disabilities, people serving in the military, and all others who choose to vote absentee. We won’t stop fighting in the courts and in the legislature to challenge obstacles to voting so that election workers can support voters in casting their ballots in an efficient and timely manner.”

“More than 3,000 Cobb county voters have fulfilled their responsibility by requesting absentee ballots on time,” says Poy Winichakul, senior staff attorney, SPLC. “We urge Cobb Elections to take immediate action to resolve this issue, ensuring all voters receive their absentee ballots promptly so they can make their voices heard in this critical election.”

Voters affected by this delay may still utilize return ballots at the Cobb County elections office. Additionally, any absentee voters who have not received their ballots are encouraged to vote in person at their assigned polling location on Election Day. Cobb Elections will extend the hours for absentee ballot returns at the Elections Headquarters this weekend. Voters can return their ballots to 995 Roswell Street NE, Marietta, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday.

You can find a copy of the emergency lawsuit here.