ATLANTA — A decision made by the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday clarified that voters in Cobb County will not be granted an extension to return absentee ballots, which some received later than expected. Cobb County, located north of Atlanta, experienced delays in mailing absentee ballots to certain voters who had made requests, with some ballots arriving just last week.

Georgia law mandates that absentee ballots must be submitted by the close of polls on Election Day. Although a lower court previously ruled that ballots could be counted if submitted by Friday, provided they were postmarked by the preceding Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s ruling reinstated the original deadline. Therefore, voters in the affected area will have to cast their votes in person on Election Day, which falls on Tuesday, or deliver their absentee ballots to the county election office by 7 p.m. that evening, failing which their votes will not be counted.

The ruling specifies that officials from the county election office must inform affected voters through email, text alerts, and announcements on the election board’s official website. Additionally, it was directed that any ballots received after the Election Day cutoff, but prior to 5 p.m. on Friday, must be kept separate and sealed by the election officials.

To ensure timely delivery, Cobb County election officials utilized both U.S. Postal Service express services and UPS overnight deliveries, along with providing prepaid express return envelopes for voters. The Board of Elections revealed that over a thousand of the delayed absentee ballots were being sent to individuals outside of Georgia.

Tori Silas, the chair of the Cobb County election board, cited malfunctioning equipment and a surge in ballot requests as the reasons for the delays in dispatching the absentee ballots the previous week leading up to the Oct. 25 deadline. This decision and the extended ballot return ruling emerged from a legal challenge initiated by the American Civil Liberties Union alongside the Southern Poverty Law Center, representing three Cobb County residents who reported not receiving their absentee ballots by the Friday deadline.