Georgia Sent Out Nearly 7 Million Absentee Ballot Applications For Primary, But Proposed Bill Won’t Let It Happen Again

The change comes after complaints surfaced after the state’s June 9 primaries that some votes, particularly those where voters marked a selection with a check mark or an X, were not picked up by scanners despite the intent being clear.

Keith Srakocic / Associated Press

Updated Wednesday at 2:50 p.m.

An amendment to Senate Bill 463 would prohibit the Georgia secretary of state or county elections officials from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot applications. The amendment passed along a party-line vote, and the bill itself was approved by a majority of the committee.

It’s a direct rebuke to the action taken by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in March of this year when he sent out applications to all 6.9 million active voters amid the coronavirus pandemic.