Georgia voters still held about 34,500 mail and electronic ballots as of Saturday, Oct. 31, with Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Mail ballots account for 29,860 of them, and voters with electronic ballots hold the rest.
Late-issued ballots make up the largest share. Ballots mailed Oct. 19-25 are the biggest group still out, and most of them have not come back.
Young voters and voters living away from home hold far more than their share. Voters age 18 to 24 received fewer than one in 10 mail ballots but hold about one in four of those still out.
Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett returns are running well behind the rest of the state. Ballots issued Oct. 6-18 in the three counties are 29% and 40% still out, against 13% and 25% elsewhere. Gwinnett's ballots mailed Oct. 19-25 are 93% still out, against 61% for the state as a whole.
In this article: Where the Ballots Are · When They Were Mailed · Delays in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett · Who Holds Them · Ballots That Break the Pattern · Voters Who Switched to In-Person Voting · Compared With 2022 · What Happens Next
Where the Ballots Are
Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties hold 43.8% of the mail ballots still out. Chatham is the only other county with more than 1,000. Each of 146 other Georgia counties has fewer than 500 mail ballots still out.
Four Metro Atlanta Counties Hold 43.8% of Mail Ballots Still Out
What it means: Four metro Atlanta counties hold 43.8% of the remaining ballots, so the final count of mail ballots will depend heavily on what comes back there in the last three days. Among large counties, Fulton has the highest still-out rate and Cherokee the lowest.
When They Were Mailed
The later a ballot went out, the less likely it has come back. Of ballots issued by Oct. 5, 9.3% are still out; of ballots issued Oct. 19-25, 57.6% are still out.
The Later a Ballot Was Issued, the More Likely It Is Still Out
So many ballots went out by Oct. 5 that their low rate still leaves 8,864 ballots out.
What it means: Ballots issued late leave little time for a round trip by mail, so a large share of the ballots still out may arrive close to the deadline or not at all.
Delays in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett
Ballots issued Oct. 6-25 in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett are far more likely to be out than ballots issued in the rest of the state. For ballots issued Oct. 6-11, 29% are still out in the three counties, against 13% elsewhere. For Oct. 12-18 the figures are 40% and 25%, and for Oct. 19-25 they are 80% and 55%.
The pattern fits an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report from Oct. 28. The AJC reported that a Cobb voter sued over nearly 2,900 absentee ballots requested Oct. 6-15 that voters had not received, and that the lawsuit alleges the county's mailing vendor took up to two weeks to send them. State law requires ballots to go out within three days. The AJC quoted Democratic Party of Georgia Chairman Charlie Bailey saying Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett use the same vendor. The AJC article reported no court ruling at that time.
The state file records when a ballot was issued, not when it was mailed or when it reached the voter. The file cannot show whether a mailing delay caused the slower returns in these counties.
Ballots Issued in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett Are Far More Likely to Be Out
What it means: The three counties hold 5,800 of the 18,809 mail ballots issued Oct. 6-25 that are still out, or 31%.
Who Holds Them
Voters age 18 to 24 and voters with addresses away from home hold far more of the remaining ballots than their share of ballots issued. Voters age 18 to 24 received 8.8% of mail ballots but hold 24.3% of those still out.
Young Voters Hold the Most Ballots Still Out, at Home and Away
Voters Age 18 to 24 Hold Nearly Three Times Their Share of Ballots Still Out
Age matters even for ballots sent to a Georgia home address. Among all ballots issued to those addresses, 37% of ballots for voters age 18 to 24 are still out, compared with 11% for voters 75 and older.
Ballots Sent Away From Home Are Far More Likely to Be Out
The single largest group of ballots still out belongs to voters 75 and older at home who got their ballots by Oct. 5. That group has 2,870 ballots still out, though that is only 7% of its ballots. Voters age 18 to 24 with out-of-state addresses and ballots issued Oct. 19-25 hold 1,601 ballots, 92% of their group.
Still-Out Rates Are Higher Among Asian and Hispanic Voters, Who Are Smaller Groups
The gap narrows among ballots sent to a home address by Oct. 5, where ballots for White and Black voters are about 8% still out. The file does not show why these rates differ. Women voters hold 60.8% of mail ballots still out, close to their 59.1% share of ballots issued.
What it means: The ballots still out lean heavily toward voters whose ballots were issued late, voters who are young and voters whose ballots went to an address other than their registered home.
Ballots That Break the Pattern
Gwinnett's ballots mailed Oct. 19-25 are 93% still out, compared with 61% statewide for that week. Only 107 of the 1,583 Gwinnett mail ballots issued that week have been returned.
Nearly all of Gwinnett's 8,586 returned mail ballots come from ballots issued before Oct. 19. Gwinnett's ballots issued by Oct. 5 are 10% still out, matching the state rate. The Gwinnett gap appears among women voters and men voters, among White, Black and Asian voters, and among both the youngest and oldest voters. Given the age, address and other traits of those voters, we would expect about 71% of Gwinnett's Oct. 19-25 ballots to be still out, not 93%.
Gwinnett shows only 15 ballots issued Oct. 26-31 that are returned or still out, compared with 817 in Cobb and 554 in Fulton. Why Gwinnett issued so few late ballots, and why its late ballots are not coming back, is a question for Gwinnett's election office.
After adjusting for the mix of issue date, age, sex, race and address distance, Bibb, Fulton and Gwinnett have more ballots still out than expected, while Cherokee, Houston and Coweta have fewer.
Bibb, Fulton and Gwinnett Run Above Their Predicted Rates; Cherokee, Houston and Coweta Run Below
These rates count ballots returned or still out. Other groups that run away from their predicted rate:
- Fulton ballots mailed to out-of-state addresses come back better than expected. Of 2,523 such ballots, 55% are still out, compared with 64% predicted.
- Ballots mailed Oct. 19-25 to out-of-state addresses from counties outside the five largest show the opposite pattern. Of 1,609 such ballots, 86% are still out, compared with 78% predicted.
- Voters age 18 to 24 at Georgia home addresses whose ballots went out Oct. 19-25 return them better than expected. Of 904 such ballots, 63% are still out, compared with 71% predicted.
- Two earlier weeks also stand out in single counties. Chatham's ballots issued Oct. 12-18 are 49% still out, against 34% predicted. DeKalb's ballots issued Oct. 6-11 are 35% still out, against 25% predicted.
What it means: The file cannot tell us whether these differences come from how fast county offices record returned ballots, how fast ballots were mailed or how voters behave. A county that logs ballots slowly would look the same in this file as a county whose voters mail their ballots late.
Voters Who Switched to In-Person Voting
About one in 20 mail voters, 7,657 voters or 5.0%, voted in person after receiving a mail ballot. Those voters count as having voted and are not part of the ballots still out.
One in 10 Cobb Mail Voters Voted in Person Instead
In counties such as Hall, Richmond, Muscogee, Houston and Cherokee, the rate was 3% to 4%.
Switching to In-Person Voting Ranges From 4% to 7% Across Groups
Asian and Hispanic voters are small groups among mail voters. The file does not show why these rates differ.
What it means: Counting these voters as ballots still out would overstate the remaining total by about 7,900 ballots, so they are left out of the still-out figures in this article.
Compared With 2022
Fewer mail ballots are out this year than at the same point in 2022. As of Oct. 30, 32,167 mail ballots were still out, compared with 44,632 at the matching point in 2022. The 5.0% of mail voters who voted in person is a count to date, and the file gives no matching 2022 figure for the same point. Total ballots accepted so far reached 2,826,136, up 12.5% from the same point in 2022. Accepted mail and electronic ballots, at 121,028, are down 45%.
What Happens Next
In-person early voting ended Friday, Oct. 30, and county election offices will accept mail ballots until 7 p.m. on Election Day. Voters who still hold a mail ballot can find return options from their county election office. In 2024, when more than 3,000 Cobb absentee ballots went out late, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballots had to be received by Election Day.
What it means: The 13,419 mail ballots issued Oct. 19-31 that are still out have little time to reach their county election office before that deadline.
About This Analysis
This analysis uses the Georgia Secretary of State absentee ballot file delivered Nov. 1, 2026, with data through Oct. 31. It counts a voter's ballot as still out only when the file shows an issued mail or electronic ballot and no accepted ballot. Address distance compares a ballot's mailing address with the voter's registered home address.
Sources: Georgia Secretary of State and Civic Forge Solutions