Georgia Supreme Court rules late-arriving ballots must be set aside

Election Day is Election Day - not the week after,

RNC Chair Michael Whatley wrote in a post on social media

HUGE election integrity victory in Georgia. Democrat-run Cobb County wanted to accept 3,000 absentee ballots AFTER the Election Day deadline. We took this case to the Georgia Supreme Court,

RNC chair Michael Whatley posted to X on Monday

Consistent with OCGA § 21-2-386, the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration (the ‘Board’) may count only those absentee ballots received by the statutory deadline of 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 5, 2024.

the order reads

I find that it is not a violation of those two code sections for a voter to hand-return their absentee ballots,

Farmer said

Multiple counties are doing it, and there's nothing illegal about it – these aren't drop boxes."

NPR reporter Stephen Fowler wrote on X of the lawsuit threat

To make matters worse, the four election office locations are situated in areas of the county that will clearly favor Democrat candidates,

the statement said

This is a blatant violation of Georgia law . . . which states ‘all drop boxes shall be closed when the advance voting period ends,’

the Georgia GOP said in a statement late on Friday