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Atlanta, GA — The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office has launched a website where people can request their absentee ballots for the Nov. 3 election.

“The Georgia absentee ballot portal will allow you to quickly request an absentee ballot and receive confirmation that your request is being processed,” the Securevotega.com website says. “Your secure ballot will be verified and fulfilled by your county elections office. No excuse absentee was established under then-Governor Sonny Perdue, and voted in support by the now Speaker of the House David Ralston. While we thank those two visionaries for expanding access to voting, Secretary Brad Raffensperger has placed additional security measures to ensure the integrity of the vote.”

To obtain your absentee ballot using this service, click here.

According to DeKalb County DeKalb County Voter Registration & Elections, absentee ballot applications for the Nov. 3 election will be processed at the beginning of September. You can check the status of your applications starting September 19, 2020 by visiting http://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov and login under My Voter Page.

Voters are strongly encouraged to request an absentee ballot and to drop them off at a dropbox this year instead of mailing it. 

There are other ways to request an absentee ballot this year, aside from using the service provided by the Secretary of State.

To obtain your absentee ballot application, click here. Absentee Ballot Applications can be emailed to [email protected]. If you need another way to contact the Dekalb County Chief Registrar to give them your ballot application, visit this page and select “Dekalb” from the drop-down menu.

Important tip: The signature on your absentee ballot application must match the one the county has on file for you or your application will be rejected. So use your actual signature, not the generic signature option provided via the PDF reader software you might be using.

Your absentee ballot will arrive in the mail and will include a sealed envelope for you to mail it or drop it off. Once you get it filled out, you can drop it off in the sealed envelope at one of the county’s dropbox locations. The current dropbox locations in DeKalb County are:

Brookhaven City Hall –  4362 Peachtree Rd NE, Brookhaven, GA 30319

Sterling at Candler Village – 2536 Mellville Ave, Decatur, GA 30032

Voter Registration Office – 4380 Memorial Dr., Decatur, GA 30032 (3 drop boxes)

There are more dropbox locations under consideration.

If you haven’t registered to vote and want to vote absentee this year, it’s important that you register as soon as possible.

In Georgia, the voter registration deadline for the Nov. 3 election is Oct. 5.

The My Voter Page is also where you can register to vote if you haven’t already done so as well as check for information about your polling place if you plan to vote in person.

According to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, in order to register to vote you must:

– Be a citizen of the United States

– Be a legal resident of the county where you are voting

– Be at least 17 1/2 years of age to register and 18 years of age to vote

– Not be serving a sentence for conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude

– Have not been found mentally incompetent by a judge

People who wish to vote in person will need to bring one of the following forms of identification, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office:

– Any valid state or federal government-issued photo ID, including a free ID Card issued by your county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS)

– A Georgia Driver’s License, even if expired

– Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state

– Valid U.S. passport ID

– Valid U.S. military photo ID

– Valid tribal photo ID

Early voting will begin on Oct. 12 and end on Oct. 30.

Decaturish will provide more information about early voting closer to the start of the early voting period.

If anyone has additional questions about how to secure your vote this year, check out our recent Twitch show on this topic:

Please vote in the Nov. 3 election.

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