Lawsuit filed over delayed Cobb County absentee ballots
A lawsuit filed Tuesday claims nearly 2,900 people in Cobb County did not receive their absentee ballots as requested, an error that has voters and party leaders pointing fingers at the vendor the county hired to handle the task.
The lawsuit was filed by one of those voters, Marietta resident Michael Olaribigbe, who is asking a judge to mandate that the county overnight any delayed ballots to voters to ensure they are able to participate in Tuesday’s election.
Olaribigbe is represented by the Elias Law Group, the left-leaning firm based in Washington and led by Marc Elias. Elias is also the founder of Democracy Docket, the website where the lawsuit was first reported.
The complaint focuses on ballots requested by Cobb voters from Oct. 6 to Oct. 15. Although state law requires these ballots to be mailed within three days and the state’s ballot tracking website says they have been issued, New York-based vendor Fort Orange Press has taken as long as two weeks to mail the ballots, the lawsuit alleges.
“Cobb County is not alone,” the suit says. “Recent reporting indicates that the same private vendor that Cobb County contracted with is responsible for delays in New York, Pennsylvania, and Colorado.”
The suit asks the court to act quickly. State law requires absentee ballots to be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday.
“Thousands of Cobb County voters did everything right by requesting their absentee ballots weeks in advance of Georgia’s election-day receipt deadline, yet they have been left in the cold with no absentee ballot at all, in violation of state law,” it said.
The county’s election director and its five Board of Elections members are listed as defendants. The suit was filed in Cobb County Superior Court. Fort Orange Press declined to comment on the allegations when contacted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Before the lawsuit was filed Monday, Democratic Party of Georgia Chairman Charlie Bailey said he was aware of complaints that a vendor’s delays had caused absentee voting numbers to lag in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. Delays have affected approximately 10,000 voters, he said.
He noted that it appeared to be an issue with the vendor and not anything attributed directly to local officials or partisan interference. All three counties use Fort Orange Press.
“We have no reason to believe that the delays are the fault of the counties at all,” Bailey said. “They are doing what they are supposed to do. The information we have indicates that the counties did their job processing mail ballot applications and getting those to the vendor that handles the mailing of the ballots.”
Bailey said voters who are still waiting should make alternate plans to vote in person early or on Election Day. If they can’t make it to Georgia, they should pay for overnight mailing of their ballot.
The lawsuit says Olaribigbe requested an absentee ballot Oct. 5 because he is working in New York and unable to return to Georgia before Election Day. The state’s “My Voter Page” tracking system said his ballot was issued Oct. 9, but he had not received it by Tuesday, when the suit was filed.
The “affected class” requested in the lawsuit includes any Cobb voters whose absentee ballots were reported as “issued” from Oct. 6 to Oct. 15 but who have not yet turned in ballots, canceled their request or voted by other means.
“Many in this class will have no recourse if they are unable to return their ballots by Election Day, particularly those who planned to vote absentee precisely because they will not be at or near their Georgia residence on Nov. 3, 2026,” the lawsuit said.
— Staff writer Caleb Groves contributed to this report.