Georgia Secretary of State and State Election Board Changed Absentee Ballot Signature Verification and Added Drop Boxes Without State Legislature’s Approval

As early in-person voting began Monday, December 14, for the general election run-off of two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia, significant changes for absentee ballot signature verification and drop boxes put into place by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the State Election Board without the state legislature’s approval are still in place.

Meanwhile, registered voters “mailing” an absentee ballot for the general election run-off for the federal offices started more than three weeks ago on November 18, according to Georgia’s election calendar. 

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Ballot Transfer Forms Show 78 Percent of 89,000 Absentee Ballots from Drop Boxes in Cobb County, Georgia Were Not Transported to Registrar ‘Immediately’ As Election Code Rule Requires

An analysis of ballot transfer forms from Cobb County reveals that 78 percent of the more than 89,000 absentee ballots from drop box locations, required to be “immediately transported” to the county registrar according to Emergency Rule of the State Election Board for Absentee Voting, took more than one hour to be transferred to election officials.

State Election Board Emergency Rule 183-1-14 relative to securing absentee ballot drop boxes was adopted by the State Election Board at the July 1, 2020, meeting.

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Republican Organizations File Lawsuit to Ensure Georgia Follows State Laws for January 5 Runoff Elections

The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party filed a lawsuit to ensure Georgia election law is properly followed for the January 5 runoff election.

The lawsuit demands that poll watchers be allowed to do their jobs as permitted under Georgia law, and safeguards in the law for ballot “drop boxes” are upheld, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the Republican National Committee.

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Pollster: Fraud Prone Drop Boxes Cost Trump and GOP the Election if Biden Wins GA; State Legislature Must Fix This Before Senate Runoffs

Drop-boxes will have cost President Donald Trump the election if Biden wins Georgia, and this points to the state’s most important concern for the upcoming Senate runoffs, Pollster John McLaughlin said in an exclusive statement to The Georgia Star News.

McLaughlin is CEO and partner of national survey research and strategic services company McLaughlin & Associates.

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Georgia’s Cobb County Says 89,000 Absentee Ballots Delivered from Drop Boxes, but Has Not Yet Produced Chain of Custody Logs

Nearly one in four of the 387,305 votes cast in Cobb County in the 2020 general election were absentee ballots placed in the drop boxes located around the county.

More than 1.3 million absentee ballots were returned and counted in the 2020 general election in Georgia, out of 5 million votes cast. In the current tally, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential contest by 12,670 votes.

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State Election Board Votes to Extend Drop Box Use and Mandate Early Processing for Absentee Ballots for Runoff Senate Election

The Georgia State Election Board voted to extend the absentee ballot voting rules on the use of drop boxes and early processing. Leading up to the January 5 general election runoff, voters may continue to deliver their absentee ballots at drop boxes and officials must begin processing ballots at minimum a week before Election Day.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger chaired Monday’s meeting. The board gathered to discuss three emergency rules set to expire prior to the runoff election, though they opted to only address the first two on their agenda.

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