MACON, Ga. — As COVID-19 continues spreading ahead of the Georgia primaries, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is working to ease the way Georgians can cast their ballot.
"All you need to do is fill it out, place a stamp, and mail it back in. You can then vote from the safest place possible -- your own home," says Raffensperger. "Whether at the ballot box or the mailbox, America is founded on the principal that every citizen gets one vote."
And that one vote can still be counted in-person on election day next month.
But if you'd rather vote remotely to avoid crowds, you don't have to head to the board of elections to apply for an absentee ballot.
Raffensperger says he is mailing out applications to every registered Georgia voter.
The form asks for some basic info, your signature, and the type of ballot you want: republican, democratic, or non-partisan. If you pick the last option, no party candidates will be listed.
Macon-Bibb Board of Elections supervisor, Jeanetta Watson, says her office has already received more than 700 ballot requests in just the last week, and they expect thousands more in the coming month.
"It's just an overwhelming amount of mail, and we're not used to handling this much mail at one time," says Watson.
Since the state is expecting more Georgians to vote absentee than ever before, Secretary Raffensperger launched a "task force'" on Monday. They'll investigate voting fraud, like mismatched signatures and non-residential addresses being used for registration.
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