Gwinnett Voters Will Have To Request Absentee-Ballot Applications

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Voting along party lines and without comment, Gwinnett County commissioners shot down a request Tuesday to send absentee-ballot applications to all active registered voters.

Doing so would have cost $2.4 million to reach up to 600,000 voters, according to Gwinnett’s election board.

Commissioners also nixed a request to spend about $516,000 to pay for return postage on absentee ballots, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Both proposals were rejected 3-2, with Republicans voting against them and Democrats voting for them.

“I’m disappointed, but in a way, I’m not surprised,” John Mangano, nonpartisan chair of the Gwinnett Board of Registration and Election, said to the Atlanta newspaper. Both proposals had passed the election board 4-1.

Although both proposals were rejected, Gwinnett County will add 15 ballot drop boxes at local libraries. Seven boxes already were available.

“We knew this would happen,” said Penny Poole, president of the Gwinnett NAACP.

According to Gwinnett election supervisor Kristi Royston, there were already more than 75,000 requests for absentee ballots by the end of Monday.

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