Georgia’s highest court has ruled that over 3,000 absentee ballots might not be counted if they are received after election day, despite an error by local election officials.

All the ballots are in Cobb County, a northern suburb of Atlanta that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and could be a deciding factor in a state where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are tied in the opinion polls.

Biden won the state with 49.5% of the vote in 2020, compared to 49.2% for Trump.

Trump famously called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election asking him to “find 11,780 votes” that Trump needed to beat Biden in Georgia.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken a case to protect the rights of Cobb County voters in the 2024 presidential election, after officials inadvertently delayed mailing out some absentee ballots.

Newsweek sought email comment on Tuesday from the RNC, the ACLU and the Cobb County Election Board.

Among the plaintiffs taking the case with the ACLU are Naomi Ayota, a 19-year-old who attends college in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrison “Grant” Simmel, a 20-year-old who attends college in Boulder, Colorado and Gabriel Dickson, a resident of Cobb County, who requested an absentee ballot because he is legally blind.

“It is incredibly burdensome for him to vote in person,” the ACLU lawsuit states.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that all Cobb County absentee ballots must be received by the time polls close at 7pm on Tuesday.

Any ballots that are received after that time will be held until the case can be fully litigated.

The Georgia Supreme Court overruled a Cobb County judge who had extended the deadline until 5pm on Friday, to compensate for the delay in sending out the ballots.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Georgia Republican Party had appealed that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing that the Cobb County judge’s deviation from election rules is “baseless.”

“The Plaintiffs claim a burden on their right to vote, but the Georgia Constitution does not guarantee a right to vote by mail. Voters still have many options to vote, including by voting in person or delivering their absentee ballots in person,” their appeal stated.

In its initial lawsuit, the ACLU complained that “plaintiffs and more than 3,000 other lawfully registered Cobb County voters are on the brink of disenfranchisement in the November 5 election because the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration was unable to issue their absentee ballots on time. Defendants admit the legal violation.”

“It is unlikely that all affected voters will even receive their ballots by November 2, particularly because hundreds of the affected voters are temporarily living out of state or overseas,” it states.

Body camera video of altercations between officers and fans at the weekend’s University of Florida vs. University of Georgia football game proves the officers did no wrong, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said.

“Yes, there was force used,” Waters said Tuesday afternoon at a news conference at which the video was shown. “And yes, that force is always ugly. [It] does not mean it was unlawful or contrary to policy.”

Waters said context was largely missing in the two cases in which cellphone video of officers striking people with a fist or a baton during the raucous game between historic rivals went viral on social media.

Waters said some of what happened in Saturday’s second incident was cut from cellphone video to make it “intentionally misleading.” It was circulated by those who wish to “advance an anti-police agenda,” he said.

Videos of that incident were posted to X by Tate Moore of the sports news platform Barstool Sports and by a person named John Phillips. The Phillips account also posted video of the first confrontation. Barstool Sports and a Floridian with the same name as Phillips did not immediately respond to emailed requests seeking their response Monday night.

A statement accompanying the airing of body camera video described the video and commentary by sheriff’s officials Monday as “important context” that includes “additional details regarding two incidents from Saturday’s game.”

Four men in the two incidents were arrested on allegations of battery on an officer, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly intoxication, according to sheriff’s incident reports.

A sheriff’s incident report identified them as father-and-son duo Michael Wayne Long, 58, and Alexander Michael Long, 27, both of Orange Park, Florida. The two other men were identified as Brandon Michael Boley, 42, of Fleming Island, Florida, and Walter Brown, 39, of Callahan, Florida.

Three of the four did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday night, and Brown could not be reached. Brown was listed in his incident report as having been “absentee booked” on the allegations. None of the men were in jail Monday night, according to the reports.

The video from two officers in the first incident, whom the sheriff’s office identified as D.J. Bowers and E.D. Kelly, provided different views of a confrontation with Brown shortly after 4:20 p.m., after a “safe worker” at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville told him to leave, Sheriff’s Cmdr. Jacob Vorpahl said at Monday’s news conference.

Brown was ejected after a confrontation with the worker, whom he accused of trying to kidnap his children, Vorpahl said. The children had tried to reach a seating section of the stadium without tickets, Vorpahl said.

Brown arrived and is alleged to have pushed the worker and then dragged one child to the section while telling the others to follow, said Vorpahl, who is in charge of the office’s accountability section. That prompted the safe worker to ask officers to remove Brown.

Authorities allege he refused to leave when two sheriff’s officers arrived.

The man fended off multiple attempts by the officers to grab his wrists and one attempt to put handcuffs on his right wrist before one of the officers started striking him, apparently with a closed fist, and then used a stun gun at least three times, the body camera video shows.

The officers wrestled with Brown before they got him into custody, body camera video shows. The sheriff’s office said in a series of posts on X that the man grabbed an officer’s gun during the confrontation.

Brown also made at least two threats, according to the video.

“Remember, I told you either I’m going to kill a cop or not leave,” he said after he turned to a companion at the beginning of the confrontation. “One or the other.”

Sheriff’s officials also said at the news conference that the suspect repeatedly used a racial epithet against one of the two officers, who is Black.

The man was taken to a facility at the stadium to be treated for lacerations to his face, according to the video and sheriff’s officials.

In the second incident, which took place after 6 p.m., multiple officers were summoned to a section of the stadium where three allegedly unruly fans were ejected but refused to exit, the body camera video shows.

As officers try to pull two men from their seating area, an altercation breaks out with both simultaneously, the video shows. A man in a striped polo shirt is taken down by officers, at least one of whom strikes him, according to video and audio, with the man repeatedly saying, “Don’t swing.”

The other man puts a hand in an officer’s face and then put his arms around the officer’s waist, close to his gun belt, as the two struggle, the body camera video shows. That initial part of the confrontation, Waters said, was left out of cellphone video.

That officer resorted to striking the fan multiple times, the sheriff’s video shows, and at least one other spectator joined in to help officers get control of the situation.

The sheriff’s office identified three officers involved in the confrontation: Sgt. J.S. Beasley and Officers A.M. Catino and J. Anthony.

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5-30, the bargaining unit for Jacksonville officers, did not immediately respond late Monday to a request seeking comment from the five officers named as being involved in the two incidents.

Spectators had gathered Saturday to watch the Florida Gators taken on the Georgia Bulldogs, an annual matchup that drew an estimated 70,000 people to EverBank Stadium in downtown Jacksonville.

The crowd was rowdy, even for a game that Waters said was known as “America’s largest outdoor cocktail party.” He said he arrived sometime after noon to find many fans were “already inebriated, before the game even started.”

“This was a different game,” Waters said. “They’re not always like this. We had a horse punched in the face.”

Waters said six officers assigned to the game were injured, eight people were arrested, and 35 fans were ejected.

The game’s general atmosphere was overshadowed by the social media videos.

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan described the videos on X as “disturbing” and added that she spoke to the sheriff about the matter. The sheriff’s office said the matter was under investigation.

Waters said the sheriff’s office has received threats against one of two Black officers seen on social media video. “I don’t need context, n—–,” the threat said, according to Waters, who described a racial epithet used in the communication.

“I’m getting ready to start putting bullets in them,” he said, quoting the threat.

In sheriff’s body camera video of the first incident, the suspect used the same word, Vorpahl said at the news conference.

“We had to censor some of the words that were said,” he said.

ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court has stayed the current deadline to accept absentee ballots, following delays attributed to an equipment failure and a surge in last-minute applications.

The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse that decision through the state’s highest court. While the court has not ruled directly on whether the ballots would be accepted, it did say any late ballot cannot be counted and must be set aside until a further ruling.

“All justices agreed with the order except Chief Justice Boggs and Justices Ellington and Colvin, who dissented, while Presiding Justice Peterson was disqualified from the case,” the ruling read.

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“The Cobb County Board of Elections is aware of and will comply with the Georgia Supreme Court’s order granting a stay,” said Board of Elections and Registration Chairwoman Tori Silas. “However, because the order only addressed to the motion for a stay, we will anticipate the Supreme Court’s final ruling to see whether it ultimately allow these voters additional time to return their ballots or whether we must only count those received by the close of polls on Tuesday.”

The Cobb County Elections Department announced that approximately 3,200 absentee ballot applications were processed late due to a spike in requests before last Friday’s deadline and technical problems. The department sends these ballots via next-day mail or delivery, including prepaid express return envelopes.

Cobb County Superior Court Senior Judge Robert Flournoy approved an order on Thursday, supported by four members of the Board of Elections and Registration and proposed by attorneys representing three voters affected by the issue.

Under Judge Flournoy’s order, absentee ballots mailed after Oct. 30 will be counted if they are received by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, and postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5. The ruling is intended to protect the voting rights of those impacted by the delays.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that any ballot received by 7 p.m. on Election Day can be counted, but any ballots received after the deadline through 5 p.m. on Nov. 8, must be kept separately and securely, but not destroyed, until further notice from the court. Those late ballots would not immediately be counted.

The Supreme Court’s order also directs affected voters to be informed of the deadline for returning their absentee ballots through email, text messages, and a public announcement on the Cobb County Board of Elections’ website. This order applies only to the specific group of “Affected Voters” identified in a trial court order from Nov. 1 and does not affect voters covered by federal laws for uniformed and overseas voters.

Cobb County election officials say voters who requested an absentee ballot but are concerned it will not arrive on time can still vote in person at their assigned precinct on Tuesday. To find their precinct, voters can visit the state’s My Voter Page.