Georgia Judge Rejects GOP Request to Close Fulton County’s Ballot Return Sites
A judge rejected a request on Saturday from the Georgia Republican Party to shut down absentee ballot return sites open this weekend in Fulton County.
For the upcoming election, Fulton County announced that four election offices will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 2 and 3 to serve as sites for voters to hand-return their absentee ballots.
On Friday evening, the Georgia GOP and Fulton County Republican Party sued the county, arguing that its actions violate state law mandating that all drop boxes remain closed after the state’s early voting period, which ended on Friday.
The Republicans asked a state court to block Fulton County from allowing voters to return ballots to the election offices this weekend.
During a hearing this morning, Nadine Williams, director of the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections, told the judge that all ballot drop boxes in the county are locked and none of them are present at the election offices.
“There’s no violation, so I’m going to deny your petition,” Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer told the Republican plaintiffs at the end of the hearing. The official order is not yet available.
After the hearing, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said on X that “Under state law, election officials can receive absentee ballots in person at [government] facilities if the county chooses. Several counties have chosen to do this.”
He added that the state is “working with the counties and the political parties to ensure this is done transparently and within Georgia law.”
This means that if voters in Fulton County still need to return their absentee ballots, they can do so in person this weekend or by 7 p.m. on Election Night.