The Legal Fight Over Unsent Absentee Ballots in Georgia’s 2024 Election

In the lead-up to the 2024 elections, several legal debates emerged over the legitimacy of mail-in ballots in key swing states. Georgia, a state that ensured an electoral college win for Joe Biden in 2020, has not avoided the legal scrutiny of the legality of absentee ballots.[1] On October 31st, 2024, Cobb County announced that it had failed to send more than 3,000 absentee ballots to Cobb County voters who had requested them.[2] Georgia law requires ballots to be sent within three days of application submission.[3]

The next day, November 1st, just four days before election day, the ACLU, ACLU of Georgia, and Southern Poverty Law Center filed a complaint and urgent motion for an interlocutory injunction and temporary restraining order on behalf of impacted voters, claiming that the board failed to issue the absentee ballots on time, disenfranchising voters.[4] The lawsuit requested that the unsent ballots be expedited and a three-day extension be provided for voters to return their completed ballots.[5] The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Naomi Ayota, a college student who could not make it to Georgia to vote in person.[6]

The Republican National Committee and Georgia Republican Party intervened to prevent Cobb County from extending its ballot receipt deadline.[7] On November 1st, the court entered an order ordering Cobb County to mail absentee ballots to the affected voters with a prepaid express return envelope on or before November 1st, 2024.[8] On the same day, the Republican intervenors appealed this case to the Georgia Supreme Court. On November 4th, 2024, the Georgia Supreme Court granted the Republican intervenors’ request to block the trial court’s ruling, keeping the deadline for the affected voters to return their absentee ballots at November 5th.[9]

On November 7th, the ACLU, ACLU of Georgia, and Southern Poverty Law Center argued that the issue extends beyond election results and instead was crucial to protecting voting rights.[10] As a result, the court dismissed the Republican appeal, allowing ballots postmarked by 7 p.m. on November 5th and received by 5 p.m. on November 8th to be counted.[11] The ACLU and SPLC emphasized that voting access issues linked to Georgia’s SB 202 continue to affect absentee voters, vowing to address these systemic challenges to protect voting rights in future elections.[12]

Sources:

1. Isaiah Poritz, "Georgia Voters Sue County Over Thousands of Unissued Ballots," Bloomberg Law (Nov. 1, 2024), https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/georgia-voters-sue-county-over-thousands-of-unissued-ballots.
2. Ayota v. Fall, ACLU (Nov. 1, 2024), https://www.aclu.org/cases/ayota-v-fall.
3. Ayota v. Fall, ACLU 
4. Isaiah Poritz
5. Ayota v. Fall, ACLU 
6. Ayota v. Fall, ACLU 
7.  Democracy Docket, Case Page, Georgia Cobb County Undelivered Mail-in Ballots Challenge, https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/georgia-cobb-county-undelivered-mail-in-ballots-challenge/ 
8. Ayota v. Fall, ACLU 
9. Democracy Docket
10. ACLU. Court Restores Relief to Cobb County Absentee Voters, Ensures Ballots Will Be Counted. (Nov. 8, 2024), https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/court-restores-relief-to-cobb-county-absentee-voters-ensures-ballots-will-be-counted.
11. ACLU.
12. ACLU.