Dates to Remember:
Voter REGISTRATION Deadline – May 11, 2020
Statewide Primary Election – June 9, 2020
Early Voting – May 18, 2020
Primary Runoff – August 11, 2020
General Election – November 3, 2020
- Voter registration deadline for the General Election is October 5, 2020.
Receiving Your Absentee Ballot Application:
All registered voters should have received an Absentee Ballot Application in the mail by April 20, 2020. If you have NOT received your application:
- Confirm you are registered to vote HERE by inputting your information into the “MVP Login” fields.
- If you are not registered to vote, you may register online or request a paper registration HERE.
- If you are registered and did not receive your application, find a printable application HERE.
Submitting Your Absentee Ballot Application:
After you have filled out the necessary information found in sections 1 thru 10 of your application (see additional document for help in completing those sections), you will need to follow the instructions located above the perforated line at the top of the absentee ballot application.
- Remove the portion above the dotted line.
- Fold the panels, ensuring that the county elections office address (or blank address lines if your ballot was not automatically mailed to you) is on the outside of the application.
- Tape the top of the application shut within one inch of both ends.
- Place a $0.55 stamp in the right upper corner and mail the completed application.
In lieu of mail, the Secretary of State is allowing scans or pictures of the completed ballot to be emailed to the county elections office. If you are registered and your ballot was mailed to you, the email address for the appropriate county elections official is printed just above the dotted line.
If you have downloaded the blank absentee ballot application from the link provided, you must mail or email the complete application to your appropriate county elections official. The appropriate individual can be found HERE and clicking the drop down menu for the county of your registration.
Q&A:
Q: Is absentee-by-mail a new way of voting in Georgia?
A: Georgia has allowed anyone to request an absentee ballot without providing an excuse since 2005. What’s different in this year’s primary election is that voters will be mailed absentee ballot request forms so that voters don’t have to print them out.
Q: Is absentee-by-mail a new way of voting in Georgia?
A: Georgia has allowed anyone to request an absentee ballot without providing an excuse since 2005. What’s different in this year’s primary election is that voters will be mailed absentee ballot request forms so that voters don’t have to print them out.
Q: What races will be on the ballot?
A: All voters will be able to choose candidates for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, the Georgia General Assembly and local races.
The presidential primary will also be listed for voters who didn’t already cast ballots during early voting before the election was postponed March 14.
There are 12 presidential candidates on Democratic Party ballots and one candidate, President Donald Trump, on Republican Party ballots. Nonpartisan ballots don’t include presidential candidates in primary elections.
Ballots that were cast before the presidential primary was postponed will be counted June 9 along with other ballots.
Q: What are the steps in the absentee voting process?
A: Absentee ballot request forms are being mailed statewide this week. After voters select their political party and sign their name, they can mail the form to the county election office’s address printed on the form. Then county election workers will process the requests, and the secretary of state’s office will send them to a vendor which will be responsible for mailing absentee ballots to voters.
Once received, voters can fill out their ballots and mail them to their county election offices. Ballots will be stored until election day on June 9, when counties will open and count them.
Q: Do voters have to pay for postage?
A: Absentee ballot request forms can be returned by mail with a 55-cent stamp, or they can be emailed to county election offices.
Voters are allowed to take a cellphone photo or scan their completed absentee ballot request forms. Email addresses of county election offices will be listed on absentee ballot request forms. Pictures of absentee request forms need to be clear enough for election officials to read. Otherwise, they won’t be accepted.
Once voters complete their absentee ballots, those must be mailed or returned in person to county election offices. Emailed ballots aren’t valid.
Q: Can absentee ballot request forms and absentee ballots be rejected?
A: Voters’ signatures must match the signatures on file. County election officials will compare voters’ signatures with the signatures they used when they registered.
County election officials must contact voters whose ballots were rejected within three business days. Voters have three days after election day to correct issues with an absentee ballot, according to a state law passed last year.
There were 8,157 rejected absentee ballots in the November 2018 election, about 3% of all absentee ballots returned by mail.
Q: What if I never receive an absentee ballot request form?
A: All active voters in Georgia should have received their absentee ballot request forms by April 20.
Absentee ballot request forms can still be downloaded from the secretary of state’s website. Absentee ballots will be counted if they’re received by county election officials by the end of voting on election day June 9.
Q: If I lose the absentee ballot that was sent to me, can I get another one?
A: Yes; however, you must sign an affidavit affirming that you lost, destroyed, or did not receive the first absentee ballot. In this instance, another ballot will be issued. A new request is not required.
Q: If I request an absentee ballot, can I change my mind and still vote at my regular polling place?
A: If the ballot has been voted and returned to and received by the board of registrars, then the absentee ballot shall be deemed to have been voted. No other ballot shall be issued.
If you still have the absentee ballot and give it to the poll manager of the precinct in which your name appears on the electors list, then the elector may vote a regular ballot.
If you have not received an absentee ballot, or if you have returned the absentee ballot, but the registrars have not received the ballot, you may cancel the absentee ballot by appearing in person before the registrar or absentee ballot clerk and making a written request to have the ballot marked “cancelled.” After satisfying themselves as to your identity, the registrars or absentee ballot clerk shall grant the request and notify the managers of your precinct to permit you to vote in person at that precinct.
Canceled absentee ballots are handled in the same manner as those returned too late to be cast.
Q: Can a third-party request an absentee ballot on my behalf?
A: A third-party may request an absentee ballot on your behalf if you are residing temporarily out of the county or municipality or if you are a physically disabled voter residing within the county or municipality. The application for your absentee ballot may, upon satisfactory proof of relationship, be made by your mother, father, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in- law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law of the age of 18 or over. Relatives applying for absentee ballots for you must also sign an oath stating that facts in the application are true.
The absentee ballot will be mailed directly to you at the permanent mailing address on record at the registrar’s office or to a temporary out-of-county or out-of-municipality address. A voter with a physical disability may have the ballot mailed to a different address within the county.
The application must be in writing and must contain the name and relationship of the person requesting the ballot, if other than yourself.
Q: Can I give my voted absentee ballot to someone else to return for me?
A: Not unless you are a physically disabled voter. A physically disabled voter can designate a relative (spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, and in-laws) or an individual residing in the same household to return his or her voted ballot in person or by mail to the registrar or absentee ballot clerk.