Georgia Supreme Court Rules Late-Arriving Ballots Must Be Set Aside

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that certain absentee ballots can only be counted if they arrive by Election Day. This means that at least 3,000 votes that arrived after the deadline will not be counted until more litigation is heard.The state’s highest court’s ruling is a huge win for the Republican National Committee’s efforts to keep elections fair. An earlier court judge gave more time to count about 3,000 absentee ballots until November 8 at 5 p.m. This was because Cobb County officials admitted they did not mail out some votes on time. The RNC filed an appeal in response.

“HUGE election integrity victory in Georgia,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said, adding that he was happy that the state Supreme Court had overturned a lower court’s ruling and kept the rule that all ballots must be postmarked and received by Tuesday, Nov. 5, the Washington Examiner reported.

Judge Robert E. Flournoy III of the Superior Court told Cobb County last week to “process received ballots by Affected Voters” as long as they were postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Those ballots could be counted for the general election until 5 p.m. on Nov. 8.

“Democrat-run Cobb County wanted to accept 3,000 absentee ballots AFTER the Election Day deadline. We took this case to the Georgia Supreme Court,” Whatley said.

Because of the Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling, any late ballots from the about 3,000 “Affected Voters” that come in after November 5 at 7 p.m. will be thrown out for now, unless the voters appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of Georgia said that the order “does not pertain to voters entitled to vote under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.” This means that it does not apply to military and overseas voters.

According to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s Office, “All ballots postmarked by the date of the primary, election, or runoff will be counted if received within three days of Election Day” for those subject to UOCAVA.

This is the second election-related victory for Republicans this week.

After being informed that poll watchers would not be allowed inside Fulton County, Ga., ballot counting centers, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley announced that they would be.

It came after several reliably Democrat strongholds announced that they would be open throughout the weekend to continue accepting ballots after early voting ended on Friday, which Republicans said was a violation of state law.

“It has come to our attention that Fulton County election officials are planning to open four election offices this weekend ‘to accommodate voters seeking to hand-return their absentee ballots.’ This is a blatant violation of Georgia law, subsection (d) of Code Section 21-2-385, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-382 which states ‘all drop boxes shall be closed when the advance voting period ends,’” Georgia Republicans said in a press release.

“This must be stopped immediately and those willfully breaking Georgia law should be held accountable. To make matters worse, the four election office locations are situated in areas of the county that will clearly favor Democrat candidates,” the press release said. “We are calling on state officials to take immediate action to stop this and maintain confidence in Georgia’s election integrity. Fulton County’s patently illegal acts give us no choice but to immediately file suit.”

The lawsuit threat came after Fulton County Registration Manager Kathryn Glenn informed county officials on Saturday that poll watchers would not be allowed in the counting centers.

“FYI – There are NO WATCHERS approved for ballot drop off! Do not let them in the building,” the email, which was sent to Fulton County election officials, said. “If they want to observe from the parking lot, you can’t stop that but they are not allowed to sit in the building. Have your security detail enforce it!!”

Republicans quickly approached Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Republican Governor Brian Kemp and asked them to intervene and allow poll watchers into the counting centers.

They threatened to file lawsuits and were quickly informed that the poll watchers would now be allowed in the centers.

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“I have been apprised that after refusing to admit our poll watchers that Fulton County and other counties are now allowing our poll watchers to observe the voting activity occurring today,” Josh McKoon, Georgia Republican Party Chairman, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“It is unacceptable that the decision was made to open these locations without notice or authorization from any party charged with elections administration. Our legal team is evaluating our next steps with regard to today’s decision allowing this activity in the first place,” he said.

In his own post, Whatley confirmed that the poll watchers were allowed into the locations.“Following our efforts, our poll watchers have now been let into the building in all four Georgia counties. Our lawsuit over the offices remaining open is still pending, but we have eyes in the room as votes are being counted. We will continue our aggressive efforts to enforce Georgia law and protect the vote,” he said.