Voting By Mail Amid Pandemic: Take Georgia Patch Survey

Deb Belt
Updated ·2 min read

GEORGIA — Registered voters in Georgia can now request absentee ballots for the Nov. 3 general election. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of people are expected to cast their ballots via the mail rather than voting in person.

Voters can request an absentee ballot now, but the Georgia Secretary of State's office will not begin mailing absentee ballots for the November election until Sept. 15.

Nearly 700,000 voters cast ballots in the Aug. 11 primary runoff election, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. A quarter million voters voted on Election Day, roughly 250,000 voted by absentee ballot, and over 150,000 voters took advantage of the three weeks of advanced voting.

The state allows absentee voting by mail and in person ahead of Election Day.

Registered voters must complete an absentee ballot application and return the application by mail, fax, as an email attachment, or in person to their local county Board of Registrar's Office.

With more Americans expected to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Post Office has been in the spotlight for mail delay concerns amid recent operational changes. After public outcry, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the changes are paused until at least after the election. According to NPR, that means post office hours won't be altered, mail processing facilities won't be closed, and existing mail processing equipment and collection boxes will stay. DeJoy promised that post offices will be ready to handle the anticipated influx of election mail.

Patch has created this survey to find out what readers think about mail-in voting. The survey is not meant to be a scientific poll, with random sampling and margins of error, but is meant only to gauge the sentiments of our readers in an informal way.

Take our quick survey below. A results story will be shared after the survey closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24. Thanks in advance for participating.

This article originally appeared on the Across Georgia Patch