If changes aren’t made to give a more reasonable deadline and allow emergency applications, legislators should reject HB 270 By Jonathan Grant @Brambleman Georgia House Bill 270 is designed to fix a problem of an untenable deadline for local election officials to mail out absentee ballots. Currently, county registrars and absentee ballot clerks are required to accept absentee ballot requests up to the Friday before an election. The turnaround time is supposed to be two days, according to current law (Georgia Code 21-2-385). Since election offices are assumed to be closed on weekends, that creates a time squeeze, especially since the law further states that no absentee ballot shall be mailed (or issued) on the day prior to a primary or election. This…
