Several metro Atlanta elections offices extend days for absentee ballot drop off

November 1st, 2024

A worker at the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections works to process absentee ballots at the State Farm Arena Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Metro Atlanta residents who live in Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb or Gwinnett counties can drop off their absentee ballots over the weekend and on Monday, Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, at their local election offices.

The last day of early in-person voting is Friday, Nov. 1, but residents in these counties can continue dropping off their absentee ballots at these times and locations before Election Day. On Election Day, offices will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for hand returning absentee ballots.

Clayton County will not have locations open this weekend for hand-returning absentee ballots, but Clayton residents can return their absentee ballots by hand on Monday, Nov. 4, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Jonesboro Historical Courthouse, South Clayton Recreation Center and Carl Rhodenizer Recreation Center.

Fulton County

Fulton County will open four election offices for people to hand-return their absentee ballots on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

These four locations are the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center at 5600 Campbellton Fairburn Road, Union City; Fulton County Government Center at 130 Peachtree Street, SW. Suite 2186; North Fulton Service Center at 7741 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs; and South Fulton Service Center at 5600 Stonewall Tell Road, South Fulton.

Gwinnett County

Gwinnett County’s elections headquarters at 455 Grayson Hwy, Suite 200, will be open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

According to Zach Manifold, the elections supervisor at the Gwinnett County Board of Voter Registrations and Elections, the county is working with the local post to expedite the delivery of mail-in absentee ballots.

DeKalb County

The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections will open its office at 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300, on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cobb County

Cobb County is extending absentee ballot drop-off hours at its main elections headquarters at 995 Roswell St., Marietta. The headquarters will be open on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Cobb Elections announced the extension after the number of absentee ballot requests by the deadline unexpectedly increased.

“We want to maintain voter trust by being transparent about the situation,” said Board of Elections Chairwoman Tori Silas in a Thursday press release. “We are taking every possible step to get these ballots to the voters who requested them. Unfortunately, we were unprepared for the surge in requests and lacked the necessary equipment to process the ballots quickly.”

The county’s elections workers have sent express return envelopes with last-minute absentee ballots so that voters can mail them back on time.

“After our vendor’s final run on Friday, we needed to utilize our in-house equipment for the final shipment of ballots, but the equipment was not working properly,” said Elections Director Tate Fall.

“By the time we got the equipment online, the deadline for mailing the ballots had passed, prompting us to work with the US Postal Service and UPS to take extraordinary measures. Our team has been working around the clock to get the ballots out.”