ATLANTA — Today marks the best, latest day to get your absentee ballot in the mail if you're planning to vote by absentee and use the mail system to submit your ballot.
Georgia has dealt with postal delays this year after the opening of a new facility in Palmetto, and those issues have continued into the election season. That's why officials have stressed to send back absentee ballots in the mail as early as possible.
In Georgia, there's no deadline for when to send your ballot -- rather, it must be received by the time polls close on Election Day. In other words, the deadline isn't on the front end, it's on the back end.
So if you get your ballot in the mail by today (Tuesday, October 29) it'll give your ballot a week to clear the postal system and get to your registrar's office to be counted on Election Day.
RELATED: 11Alive 2024 election county-by-county voter guide | Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Cobb and Clayton
"The Postal Service remains fully ready to successfully deliver the nation's mail-in ballots for voters who choose to use us to vote. And to be clear, even for return ballots that are entered in our system after Tuesday, we will continue to deploy our 'extraordinary measures,' which are designed to accelerate the delivery of Ballot Mail in the final weeks of the election season," a release this week said.
Drop boxes as an alternate
However, it's important to note that there's no guarantee on that timetable even with a full week for the ballot to be processed and delivered. The Postal Service does report in the first three weeks of October, ballot mail being delivered within a week 99.9% of the time, but officials have also been recommending submitting your ballot at drop boxes or the county elections office to be fully sure the later you wait.
You need to check your county website for drop box locations. They're only available at select early voting locations, and you have to submit at a drop box during early voting hours.
According to Georgia's election turnout data hub, a little more than 339,000 absentee ballots were issued for the November election. So far, a hair more than 187,000 have been returned, or a bit more than half. That leaves more than 150,000 ballots still to be returned.