Georgia SOS postpones May Elections until June 9

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on Thursday, the postponement of the Presidential Preference Primary and the General Primary Elections originally scheduled for May 19.

The elections will now be held on June 9, 2020.

The postponement follows Governor Brian Kemp’s announcement Wednesday, extending the current public health state of emergency until May 13.

According to Raffensperger due to the Governor’s extension of the state of emergency through May 13, it creates an overlap with in-person voting, thus forcing Raffensperger to make the decision to postpone the election until June 9, allowing in-person early voting to be held following the life of the state of emergency.

The voter registration deadline for the June, 9 election will be May 11; early voting will begin on May 18 and run for three weeks.

Moving the primary election to June 9, will move the primary runoff to August 11.

Pushing back the primary to June 9 gives Georgia election officials additional time to put in place contingency plans to allow for safe and secure voting; but, pushing back the primary election any further could potentially have negative consequences on preparation for the November 3, General Election.

Raffensperger says given existing deadlines to prepare and send ballots for the November election, particularly for military voters, moving forward on June 9 is the best way to ensure a successful election year in Georgia.

He adds that absentee ballot applications for the upcoming primary election will continue to be accepted and processed by counties even if the application said May 19.

Once county election officials properly verify the signature on the application, the voter will be sent an absentee ballot for the primary election now to be held on June 9.

For additional information regarding the postponement of the Presidential Preference Primary and the General Primary visit sos.ga.gov.