More than 4 million Georgians voted in Tuesday’s election.

Those voters deserve to have their voices heard and their ballots counted.

More than 1.3 million of those voters cast a ballot by mail. Our country elections officials are still processing those mail ballots. Processing takes time: officials have to review each ballot to make sure it was filled out properly; they check to make sure voters’ signatures match signatures on file; they check to make sure voters did not also vote in-person at the polls. This process takes time – but it also ensures that we can faith in the election results.

As Georgia’s Secretary of State says, our elections officials are “focused on getting it right.” And so we need to be patient while waiting for results.

We also need to remember that ballots from our overseas and military voters can arrive at elections offices through tomorrow, Friday November 6 — and still be counted, as long as they were postmarked by November 3rd.

We won’t have “results” for this election until all the ballots are counted – including those from military and overseas voters.

Also, under a law passed last year, mail voters whose signatures were questioned have until tomorrow, Friday November 6, to provide identification and verify their ballots.

Georgia’s Election Protection Coalition is working with those voters, to help them through the process of “curing” their ballots. And each of those ballots that have been “cured” must be counted.

If you hear today that counts are “complete” – remember that a truly “complete” count must include military and overseas ballots, as well as “cured” mail ballots. We cannot have a complete “count” until tomorrow at the earliest.   

We have 159 counties in Georgia, each with its own elections officials. These officials are our neighbors and members of our communities; and they are working extra-long hours to count every vote and ensure the results represent the will of ‘the people.’ We thank them for their hard work under pandemic conditions. They need to be allowed to do their jobs without interference by partisan special interests.

Every valid vote must be counted. That’s how our democracy works.