12/10 Update: Extremely disturbing news regarding GA senate runoff absentee ballots

[greatbaldeagle]

Last edited Thu Dec 10, 2020, 04:26 PM - Edit history (1)

My wife and I requested our absentee ballots on 11/8. The issue date on the Georgia My Voter Page says 11/20. However we still haven't received them. I just got off the phone with an election worker for Fulton County and she had me go to georgia.ballottrax.net where I saw that my ballot was mailed on 12/2. She said the issue date represents the date the elections officials requested for a 3rd party called Runbeck Election Services to mail the ballots out. She said they have been getting calls just like mine non-stop for the last few weeks because of Runbeck's delays with typically 20 calls in the queue throughout the day. I asked if Runbeck was the service they used for the General election and she said they were. She said it's "ridiculous". I am extremely disturbed by this since we know the mail is already delayed. Tomorrow will be 1 month since we requested our ballots.

I sent this info to Fair Fight along with screenshots. I'm sure I'm not the first to report this to them but I just can't believe this is the state of "Democracy" in the US in 2020.

12/10 Update:
We still have not received our ballots. I contacted the Fulton County Elections Dept today and spoke with a supervisor. She confirmed this is still a problem for many others. She advised that if we don't receive them by EOD 12/14, we should call back and they will prepare an affidavit for us to sign and have new ballots sent to us more than likely directly from Fulton County this time so it would only take a few days. As much as I don't want to put my family at risk by standing in line to vote during the worst peak of this pandemic, I guess that's the last resort we have to prepare for. Unbelievable. I heard back from Fair Fight and I have a meeting with them tomorrow to discuss our story further.

[RussBLib]

1. damn shameful that GOP state leges keep doing shit like this

they don't seem to like democracy much

[Hoyt]

34. Fulton County isn't run by GOPers.

[Tanuki]

2. Kudos to you for following up on this and bringing it to fairfight's attention!

[LAS14]

3. Wo! Thanks for posting this. Please keep us informed. I'm bookmarking the thread. nt

[pwb]

4. It is almost a month away.

I am sure you will get it, there is always a delay. They wait until they have a good number to mail all at once, it is cheaper.

[Nimble_Idea]

5. KiCK and Recommended!

Crooks trying to crook.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. Hope you get it soon, and those who requested later than you.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dufor2020runoff

[elleng]

7. VERY disturbing.

Inform the media? Any reliable local media around?

[Thekaspervote]

8. So...please PLEASE do not put your completed ballot in the mail. Drop it at it's final destination

[greatbaldeagle]

11. We will

We only use a drop box. We have zero trust in the USPS.

[Blue Owl]

9. K&R for exposure

[LisaL]

10. Was the ballot actually mailed on 12/2. If it was, there is still plenty of time, especially if you

drop it off in a drop box (I am assuming GA has drop boxes?).

[greatbaldeagle]

13. I hope so

The election worker said the information on ballottrax is supposed to be confirmation. Here's what it says:

Your Absentee Ballot Is On Its Way
12/02/2020
Your absentee ballot has been mailed. Once you receive it in the mail, please follow the instructions provided with your absentee ballot to return it in a timely manner. State law requires it be returned to the County Registrar by 7pm on Election Day, January 5, 2021.

[TrishaJ]

12. My Georgia absentee ballot was sent out on 11/18,

per My Voter Page. I received it on Friday, December 4th.

I'm sure you will receive it soon.

[LisaL]

14. Where did they send it from, the moon?

Seems like an awfully long wait for mail to arrive.
Does it seem to other people like the mail is slow again?
I would definitely drop it into a drop box rather than mailing it back.

[TrishaJ]

17. if they are mailed from the same place the

general election ballots came from - Texas. Not the moon. It took a long time to receive the general election ballot. I returned my general election ballot in the mail and it was received and accepted well before 11/3/2020. I am confident my runoff ballot will be accepted in plenty of time as well. The volume of absentee ballot requests in 2020 is much greater than before.

[LisaL]

21. Our ballots in OH were mailed from our board of elections and took one day to show up.

Over two weeks seems pretty excessive.

[True Blue American]

31. Mine took 4 days in

The General election but when I mailed it I could check when it was received. I had plenty of time. Took 2 days mailed from the local Post Office.

[DENVERPOPS]

27. Even the regular mail is delayed are across the entire nation

The Postal Workers are still trying their best to catch up from all of DeJoys sabotage.

I am getting bills much later than they normally arrive, and when you send the payment in, the company calls and says your payment is past due......I pointed out to the person that called me, that certainly her managers had heard about the machines in the post office by the guy running the post office..........she was quiet and then said...."we know, if the people we call tell us that, we forgive any late payment, and thank you for being a good customer".......

I thought it would be some what corrected by now, but the entire USPS is in a total CHARLIE FOXTROT still.
While trying to re-install the machines that were torn out, allowing overtime again, not running half full or empty trucks, they have their hands full just to correct the RepubliCONs damage that has been done, and it was massive.

THEN, add to that the huge increase of packages that UPS and Fedex are dumping on them for "end point delivery", especially in Rural America, and the normal large increase due to Christmas, and the sudden increase in junk mail and catalogs.....THEY ARE COMPLETELY AND ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMED.

[greatbaldeagle]

15. What county are you in?

I wonder if it varies by county. Fulton is huge and of course a stronghold for Democrats.

[TrishaJ]

16. I'm in Fulton County.

[greatbaldeagle]

18. Thanks for letting me know

Fingers crossed.

[LisaL]

25. If worse comes to worse, and your ballots don't show up,

GA allows you to vote on election day (in person) as far as I can tell.

[TrishaJ]

26. Yes. That is my backup plan.

Wasn't necessary for the general.

[Hortensis]

20. Same for us in our county, all mailed the 18th, ours received the 4th.

We also tracked progress on My Voter Page, and I also called our county registrar's office for an update when we thought it was taking too long. As were others.

[TrishaJ]

22. Awesome!

[stillcool]

19. damn, they make it so hard..

hope you get some help. Maybe call your stat rep, and tell them that you've already called the elections officials, and are still waiting. If there's nothing they can do, maybe ask who else you should call. The local news?

[lillypaddle]

23. My vote wasn't counted

in the general election. I'm in KY. Ordered my ballot, got my ballot, took it to the post office the end of September. KY court clerk said they never rec'd it.

[redstatebluegirl]

29. I bet there were a lot of those in KY.

[lillypaddle]

43. I bet you're right. nt

[niyad]

24. KNR for visibility.

[NoRoadUntravelled]

28. Good for you! And thanks for posting.

I've bookmarked it.

[ancianita]

30. Yep. Siphon off the absentee Democratic ballots to a 3rd party. Kemp won't try hard on this, either.

[geardaddy]

32. They should not be using a third-party vendor.

That is just ripe for fuckery.

[Vinca]

33. I'd be curious to know who operates Runbeck Election Services and who they voted for.

If you're going to steal votes for Republicans, what better way to do it than not to send ballots to Democrats?

[lpbk2713]

35. It wouldn't surprise me to learn Gingrich is involved with Runbeck.

And if he's not directly involved then I'm sure he knows how they operate.

[Hoyt]

36. Sounds like Fulton County -- that isn't run by GOPers -- needs to do something. Although,

if it wasn't mailed until Dec 2, it will likely arrive by tomorrow.

I got mine, in another county several days ago.

[oldsoftie]

39. Most of Fulton co government is a shit show & has been for years.

I'm south of there but have family there. They say it IS better than it used to be, but that aint saying much. Hope they keep improving.

[iluvtennis]

37. KnR - please keep us all updated on receipt of your ballot. nt

[wmarine]

38. I live in GA & was told the same by my county office

, it took 2 weeks after the date on myvoter page of 11/18, but I got my ballot 3 days ago.

[Politicub]

40. My ballot never arrived at my house for November, but my husband's did.

I decided to vote early because of that, and it was a simple process. They cancel your early ballot and make you sign an affidavit that you will not use it if it arrives.

For the runoff, a lot of people — everyone I know that requested a ballot in mid-November, actually — had 11/20 as the date it was sent (and this was before 11/20).

Long story short, I received the ballot last Tuesday. Mailed it back Wednesday. The tracking system on the Georgia My Voter page shows it was received and accepted today.

If you ballot doesn’t arrive, you still have the option for early voting in person.

[diva77]

41. one of their executives used to work for Diebold

[ananda]

42. Cobb polling sites need more volunteers.

Also the LDF is pressuring Cobb to keep its sites open.

Link to tweet

[BobTheSubgenius]

44. It's pretty sad when chalking this up to "inefficiency and incompetence" is the best case.

When you combine this with the 2000 and 2004 elections to create an overall picture of the wheels of democracy, other countries might expect UN observers monitoring their elections.

[woodsprite]

45. Wonder if Runbeck has an Russians/Trump-McConnell sympathizers gumming up the works. nt

[wiggs]

46. they can and have screwed with the process up and down the line. We have to assume

the worst, not just innocent incompetence.

And...if it's supposedly super hard to hack the tabulators (maybe not) then how hard is it to hack Runbeck Election Services to change a name or date here and there? We know Russia goofed around in voter registration data systems in 2016...but 'didn't do anything??'

[greatbaldeagle]

47. Story updated

12/10 update above