US-(Special Correspondent): The Georgia Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Cobb County cannot extend the deadline for counting approximately 3,000 absentee ballots that were mailed shortly before Election Day, marking a win for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The court sided with the RNC, overturning a previous ruling that had allowed Cobb County, a suburb of Atlanta, to accept absentee ballots arriving until Friday. The high court ruled that only those absentee ballots received by 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday (0000 GMT Wednesday) would be counted.
Civil rights organizations had filed a lawsuit last week requesting an extension, arguing that the county had breached state law by failing to promptly send out about 3,000 absentee ballots due to a surge in requests. Cobb County officials cited being overwhelmed by the volume of requests.
The RNC argued that extending the deadline would conflict with state election laws. “Election Day is Election Day – not the week after,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley emphasized in a social media post.
Cobb County, a large and racially diverse area in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, voted for Joe Biden over Trump by a 14-point margin in the 2020 election, which Biden won in Georgia.
The state Supreme Court ordered that any ballots received after Election Day be kept separate from other ballots. It also allowed voters who did not receive an absentee ballot in time to cast their vote in person on Tuesday.
Georgia remains one of seven critical battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the race between Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
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