Voting Rights Watch: Georgia's Fulton County botches absentee ballots, causing voters to miss election

Georgia proved to be a hotspot for trouble in the recent elections, with concerns over the unusually high number of voter-identification checks submitted to the Social Security Administration, long lines at early voting locations, a decision allowing voters to contest each other's citizenship at the polls, widespread reports of voter intimidation, and ballot counting irregularities in Fulton County, the center of metro Atlanta.

Now another problem has come to light, with a state investigation finding that Fulton County may have effectively denied voting rights to as many as 2,500 absentee voters.

An Oct. 31 letter from Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel accused county elections officials of failing to process absentee ballot requests and mail ballots in a timely manner, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

"Approximately 100 [ballot applications] have been in your office for at least 10 days," Handel said in the letter addressed to county interim elections director April Pye. "Approximately 50 applications have been rejected by Fulton County, but Fulton County has not notified the electors of the rejection."

Fulton County Commissioner Lynne Riley says she received calls from voters who didn't receive their absentee ballots until Election Day, and they had been sent by overnight delivery. Elections officials are supposed to process absentee ballot requests within two days of receiving them and send them out immediately.

The Secretary of State's inspector general is investigating Fulton County's election problems and could impose fines.