Ballots

also accept absentee ballot requests by email.

Then election officials will mail the appropriate ballot, which will be counted if it’s received by election offices by the time polls close at 7 p.m. May 19.

State Sen. Nikema Williams, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, praised Raffensperger’s decision. The secretary of state’s office had previously considered only sending absentee request forms to older voters.

“This global health emergency showcases exactly why we must embrace solutions that ensure every voter can cast their ballot and have their vote counted without risking their health or that of their loved ones,” Williams said. “I want to thank the secretary of state for put- ting the people before par- tisanship.”

Williams said more changes are needed to protect voting rights. Election officials should count absen

tee ballots postmarked by Election Day, and absentee ballots and applications should include prepaid post- age, she said.

It will cost the state government and taxpayers about $13 million to mail the absen- tee ballot request forms and

issue ballots.

Mailing actual ballots to every voter instead of ballot request forms would have been more expensive.

Election officials would have had to send three ballots — Democratic, Republican and nonpartisan — risking

voter confusion and ballot rejections if voters returned more than one ballot. Geor- gia is an open primary state, meaning any voter can vote in any party’s primary elec- tion.

The sharp ramp-up of absentee voting in Georgia could pose a challenge for election officials more accus- tomed to in-person voting, said Amber McReynolds, the CEO of Vote at Home, an organization that supports voting by mail.

“When they’re going to send out applications, if they expect to get even 30% of them back, that’s a couple of million pieces of paper that’s going to have to be processed,” said McReynolds, a former Denver elections director.

Before the presidential primary was postponed, about 275,000 voters cast ballots during early voting. Those ballots will still be counted.

Voters who already participated in the presidential primary will receive ballots with other races during the May 19 election. Voters who haven’t yet participated in the presidential primary will receive ballots that include presidential candidates and other candidates.

“These steps are critical in this temporary environment to protect our poll workers and give our counties time to successfully plan for the Georgia general primary in

May,” said state Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, a Republican from Gainesville.

Raffensperger said it’s also important to maintain in-person voting options for people who are homeless, need language assistance and have disabilities.

In addition, eliminating in-person voting would disproportionately disenfranchise black, Latino and young voters, according to the secretary of state’s office, citing research from the Brennan Center for Justice, a policy institute at New York University that focuses on democracy and criminal justice.

To protect in-person voters and poll workers, voting locations will be stocked with cleaning supplies for election equipment, Raffensperger said. Voters will be instructed to maintain a safe distance to limit the threat of spreading the coronavirus.

Because many elderly poll workers have quit, Raffensperger said he will work to help county election offices hire younger poll workers who are less likely to be at risk from the coronavirus.

ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, with the blessing of political party leaders, is instituting an unprecedented, massive effort to encourage voters to cast ballots by mail, due to concerns over COVID-19.