As many as 10,000 voters across Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties could be affected by delays in mailed absentee ballots, with Georgia's Nov. 3 election now just a week away. Democratic Party of Georgia Chairman Charlie Bailey says some requested mail ballots in those three counties have been majorly delayed, and he is urging anyone caught in the backlog to head to the polls in person instead of waiting on the mail.
According to 95.5 WSB, Bailey attributes the delays to a third-party vendor, though the vendor has not responded to a request for comment. Bailey said the problems appear limited to Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett, with no sign that voters in other Georgia counties are affected. Statewide, the Georgia Secretary of State's office reports approximately 165,000 absentee ballots had been requested, with about 91,000 returned and accepted, per the same report.
Party Chairman Urges In-Person Voting
Bailey framed the delays as reason for affected residents to skip the mail entirely while they still have time. “It's making it even more important for folks that live there in those counties to vote early in person if that is possible for them,” he said, per the station's report. Georgia's early in-person voting window continues through Friday, Oct. 30, giving voters in the three counties a few more days to act before Election Day arrives.
Voters who requested an absentee ballot but never received it are not without options. The same report notes they can still vote in person after filling out a county form canceling the absentee request. In Gwinnett County specifically, that process means completing a Cancellation of Absentee Ballot form at the polling location, with poll officials available to help, according to Gwinnett County.
What To Do If Your Ballot Shows Up Late
Voters who do receive their absentee ballots but decide to vote in person anyway can simply bring the ballot to their polling location, where a poll manager can void it before they cast a regular vote, per the station's report. Gwinnett County adds that completed absentee ballots can also be mailed or dropped off at the Beauty P. Baldwin Building in Lawrenceville, or turned in at an advance in-person voting site during open hours. Voters unsure whether their application was even processed can check status directly through the Georgia Secretary of State's My Voter Page, Gwinnett County notes.
Whichever method voters choose, timing matters. Completed absentee ballots must physically arrive at the county elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, to be counted, a deadline that lines up with the Georgia Secretary of State's own 2026 Elections Calendar, which states that absentee-by-mail ballots must be received by the close of polls on Election Day. A postmark alone will not be enough.
A Shrinking Pool of Mail Voters
This year's absentee numbers are notably smaller than in the last midterm cycle. The Georgia Recorder reported that about 154,000 absentee ballots had been requested statewide as of the Wednesday evening before the Oct. 23 application deadline, with more than 62,000 of roughly 153,000 ballots sent out already returned and accepted. About 94% of Georgia voters had chosen to cast ballots in person at early-voting sites instead, the outlet reported — a sharp contrast to 2022, when nearly 286,000 voters requested an absentee ballot during that year's midterms.
Delayed absentee mailings are not new to this part of metro Atlanta. In the 2024 general election, Cobb County failed to mail absentee ballots to about 3,400 voters who had requested them, a delay county officials blamed on faulty equipment and a late surge in requests, according to WABE. More than 1,000 of those late-mailed ballots were headed to voters outside Georgia entirely, the outlet reported at the time.
For now, the clearest guidance for affected voters in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett is to not wait and see. With early in-person voting open through Friday and the application window for absentee ballots already closed as of Oct. 23, Bailey's advice is straightforward: if a ballot hasn't shown up, don't bank on it arriving before polls close on Nov. 3.
