Georgia Supreme Court reverses deadline extension for voters who received ballots late
In a win for the Republican National Committee, the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday ruled that thousands of voters whose mail-in ballots were delayed will not have extra time to send them back.
The ruling from the court reversed a lower judge's ruling that had granted 3,000 voters an extension of the mail-in-ballot deadline, after Cobb County election officials admitted they missed the deadline to ship them out.
The deadline for mail-in ballots to be received in Georgia is Election Day -- but the lower judge had given those voters an extension for them to be postmarked by election day and received by Nov. 8, the same deadline for overseas ballots.
The RNC had appealed the ruling, saying it was a violation of the election code and that voters still had other ways they could vote, including in person.
The Georgia Supreme Court ordered the Cobb board to "keep separate" the absentee ballots of those voters that are received after the deadline on Election Day but before Nov. 8 "in a secure, safe, and sealed container separate from other voted ballots."
Cobb County had previously been ordered to ship out all of the delayed ballots by Nov. 1 with express shipping and overnight return envelopes.
The court also ordered the board to notify the voters by email, text or public announcement of the change.
-ABC News' Olivia Rubin