ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s state election board voted unanimously Monday to authorize the secretary of state to create an online portal for voters to request absentee ballots for the November general election.
To verify the voter’s identity, the system will check the name, date of birth and Georgia driver’s license or state identification card number provided by the applicant against the information in the state voter registration system. If that information doesn’t match, the applicant will be redirected to fill out a form that can be printed out and sent in so the voter’s signature can be verified against the signature on file, secretary of state’s office general counsel Ryan Germany explained during a state election board meeting held by teleconference.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, had previously said he wanted to create such a portal rather than mailing out absentee ballot applications to every active registered voter, which his office did for the primary elections in June. Raffensperger had cited the cost of mailing out absentee ballot applications to all active voters.
Election board member David Worley, a Democrat, voted to approve the new portal but also said he believes Raffensperger should send absentee ballot applications to every active voter as he did for the primaries.
“I think it will only become clearer as we get closer to the November election how necessary that is,” Worley said.