ATLANTA — Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that ballots are received by county election offices.
State election officials are urging Georgians who voted with absentee ballots for Tuesday's primary to check and see if it has been received by their county election office.
Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, said this is particularly important for anyone who mailed their ballot in the last week or two.
"It's really important that you go to the My Voter Page and see if that ballot has been accepted by (Monday night)," Sterling said. "If it hasn't been, we strongly encourage you to go find your polling location and make your plan to go vote in person."
Polls will open in Georgia on Election Day -- which is Tuesday, May 21 -- at 7 a.m. for the General Primary.
In an interview with 11Alive, Sterling brought up the issues the United States Postal Services has been having with mail delays.
The issues were first reported on by 11Alive after viewers contacted our station to report undelivered mail, missing medication and lost packages. The delays in Atlanta trace to the new Atlanta Regional Processing & Distribution Center in Palmetto. It opened on Feb. 24, consolidating Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Duluth area processing and distribution centers, which are each being repurposed as local processing centers. Atlanta, following on Richmond, Virginia, was one of the first regional areas to see major network changes.
USPS officials recently notified Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a letter that it would be "intensifying resources in the region to oversee our mail flow- leading up to and through the May 21 Georgia primary- and through to stabilization of service performance."
USPS also said last week it would pause major network changes until 2025.
"USPS has had issues in the last couple of months," Sterling said. "We really hammered them for a while and over the last 18, 15 days, they've done a good job deploying new personnel and putting in new processes and we went from about 12% of accepted ballots about two weeks ago to now we're up to about 66%."
Sterling said while that is better, election officials care about the 34% that may still be out there. He gave advice on what voters can do if their ballot hasn't been accepted yet: Voting in person is still an option.
"When you walk in, you'll tell the poll worker, 'Hey, I requested an absentee ballot, and it hasn't been accepted, yet. So, I need you to cancel that.' And then vote in person."
He said it's an easy process, and election officials will know not to count the absentee one.
"What happens is -- so people don't think there will be two ballots out there -- the second you cancel that [absentee] ballot, when it arrives at the polling location, the elections office, they spoil it and set it to the side. It will never be counted," Sterling said.
And for those using an absentee ballot, Sterling encouraged voters to sign up for Raffensperger's ballot tracking system.
"It tells you where it is so that you have that peace of mind," he said. "And if you see that it is not moving, then you can contact your local county office and find out a way to make sure your vote is protected."
To find polling locations or voter information, visit the Georgia's My Voter Page.