Fulton Elections Chief Says Ballot Application Backlog Clear

Election officials in Georgia’s most populous county say they’ve cleared a backlog of absentee ballot applications and are now processing ballot applications as they come in.

Fulton County is up to date on its processing of absentee ballot applications received by mail, email and fax, elections director Rick Barron said during a video news conference Wednesday. If voters have sent in an application and don’t see an absentee ballot issue date when they type their personal information into the My Voter Page of the secretary of state’s website, they should contact the county Department of Registration and Elections, Barron said.

Georgia has twice postponed primaries because of the coronavirus pandemic. The state’s March 24 presidential primaries were first moved to May 19, when voters were set to choose party nominees for other 2020 races, including a U.S. Senate contest. As infections and deaths mounted, election day was bumped back again, to June 9.

State election officials said they have sent absentee ballot applications to all 6.9 million active registered voters in the state, and officials are encouraging as many people as possible to skip the polls and vote absentee by mail.