Georgia Will Send Absentee Request Forms to All Active Voters for May 19 Primary

This is one way for Georgia to avoid the "just moved the primary but may need to move again" conundrum.

Just ten days after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) consolidated the March 24 presidential primary in the Peach state with the May 19 primaries for other offices -- a May date that has since seen Kentucky leave it -- he has made another move to avoid further potential community spread of the coronavirus. According to Mark Niesse of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Raffensperger has now subsequently announced that all active voters in the state of Georgia will be mailed absentee request forms that will allow them to request ballots and participate from afar in the May 19 primary.

There is no timetable yet for when request forms will be mailed, but voters will now have to submit those requests, await a ballot from the state to select their preferences for president and other offices and then return them (It will require the voter to add a 55 cent stamp.) before polls close on May 19 at 7pm. That is no shortage of administrative hurdles for the state -- processing request forms, mailing them out and taking in the ballots -- much less the new requirements this will impose on voters, those not exactly familiar with the absentee process and the deadlines associated with them.

Is two months (or just under) enough time for all of that? Time will tell. But this is a positive step to provide voters with an alternative to the early and in-person voting options that remain in place for May 19.


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Secretary Raffensperger's press release on the change is archived here.


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Related Posts:
Georgia Postpones Presidential Primary, Consolidates with May Primaries

Georgia House Speaker Calls for Another Presidential Primary Move in the Peach State

Chorus for an Even Later Georgia Presidential Primary Grows