Feds to monitor voting procedures in some metro Atlanta counties

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia and the Department of Justice plan to monitor voting rights in Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties for the November 5, 2024, general election.

Monitors will include Department personnel, who will contact state and local election officials as needed throughout Election Day. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will coordinate the effort.

Separately, in Cobb County, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia and Southern Poverty Law Center filed an emergency lawsuit after county officials said they failed to mail more than 3,000 absentee ballots as required by law. Critics say this puts voters at risk of missing the existing November 5 deadline to return their ballots.

The complaint demands that Cobb County overnight the undelivered absentee ballots and extend the return deadline to Nov. 8. The groups said that would align it with the deadline to cure provisional ballots.