Georgia’s runoff election for a U.S. Senate seat is just a week away and the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is today. But voting groups and election officials are urging most Georgians to go to the polls instead of returning ballots by mail.
Ballots must be received by county election offices before polls close on election day, Dec. 6, leaving little time to request and return them through the mail at this point. The runoff comes just four weeks after the initial election instead of the nine-week gap in prior years.
More than 200,000 Georgia voters have requested absentee ballots. About 150,000 are classified as elderly, disabled, or overseas voters who requested earlier in the year to receive the ballots automatically for the rest of this election cycle.
Anyone who already requested an absentee ballot can decide to vote in person instead. When those voters show up at a polling place, election workers can cancel their absentee ballots and allow them to cast in-person ballots.
Voters can find early and election day polling places and hours through the state’s My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov.
